■^1 


tihraty  of C^he  'theological  ^tminavy 

PRINCETON   .   NEW  JERSEY 
PRESENTED  BY 


Dr.  Earl  A.  pope 

Manson  Professor  of  Bible 

Lafayette  College 


BX  7233  .D84  T46  1899 
Dwight,  Timothy,  1828-1916. 
Thoughts  of  and  for  the 
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THOUGHTS    OF    AND    FOR 
THE    INNER   LIFE 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 
THE   INNER  LIFE 


SERMONS 


BY 


TIMOTHY    DWIGHT 


PRESIDENT  OF  YALE   UNIVERSITY 


STije  ftitiflUom  of  ffioti  is  fajtthin 


LIBRARY  OF  f'HlNCtTON 


NEW   YORK 

DODD,  MEAD   AND   COMPANY 

1899 


Copyris^ht,  1809, 
By  Dodd,  Mead  and  Company. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge,  U.S.A. 


TO 

2ti)e  53rotf)£r])ooti  of  gale  ^EnibErsttg, 

Graduates  and   Undergraduates^ 

I    DEDICATE   THIS   VOLUME 

AS    A    TESTIMONIAL    OF    MY     KINDLY    FRIENDSHIP    FOR 
THEM,    AND   OF    MY   INTEREST    IN   THEIR 
HIGHEST    WELFARE. 


PREFACE. 

THE  thoughts  expressed  in  these  sermons  are, 
in  accordance  with  the  title  which  is  given 
to  the  vohinie,  thoughts  of  and  for  the  inner  life. 
Such  sermons  are  perhaps  less  often  presented  to 
hearers  and  readers  in  these  now  passing  years 
than  those  which  deal  with  external  work  and  ser- 
vice and  with  the  great  activities  of  the  Church  on 
behalf  of  men  who  are  outside  of  its  limits.  The 
inner  life,  however,  does  not  lose  its  interest,  or 
its  infinite  worth,  to  the  Christian  mind.  The 
author  hopes  that  some  thoughtful  Christians  may- 
find  in  what  he  has  written  a  measure  of  useful 
suggestion  that  may  repay  them  for  the  time  which 
they  chance  to  spend  in  looking  over  the  pages  of 
the  volume.  Thoughts  are  among  the  richest  bless- 
ings which  come  to  us  in  this  world.  Thoughts  of 
the  inner  life  are  often  richer  than  those  of  the 
outer  Hfe. 

The  idea  of  the  Christian  life,  which,  in  large 
measure  at  least,  underlies  the  suggestions  of  the 
sermons,  is  that  of  a  personal  fellowship,  a  Divine- 
human  friendship,  if  we  may  use  the  term,  between 
the  believer  and  Christ.  This  is  the  Johannean 
idea,  as  set  before  us  in  the  Fourth  Gospel  and 


viii  PREFACE 

the  First  Epistle,  and  is,  to  the  mind  of  the  writer 
of  these  discourses,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
and  inspiring  of  all  the  thoughts  presented  to  us 
in  the  New  Testament. 

The  sermons  have,  most  of  them,  been  preached 
in  the  Chapel  of  Yale  University  to  the  audiences 
assembled  there  from  time  to  time.  Two  or  three 
of  them  have  within  themselves,  as  they  are  now 
printed,  the  evidences,  very  strongly  marked,  of 
their  special  purpose  in  relation  to  a  company  of 
young  College  men.  Two  or  three  others  bear  in 
them  indications  that  they  were  written  with  refer- 
ence to  persons  in  a  different  sphere  of  life,  or  of  a 
more  advanced  age.  These  things,  however,  are 
merely  incidental,  and,  it  is  believed,  will  in  no 
case  lessen  the  interest  or  helpfulness  —  if,  indeed, 
there  be  anything  of  this  character  pertaining  to 
them  —  which  they  may  have  for  any  reader. 

The  volume  now  goes  forth  whithersoever  it  will 
—  or  whithersoever  it  may.  May  it  bear  a  message 
of  peace  and  of  love  in  itself. 

TIMOTHY   DWIGHT. 

Yale  University,  April,  1899. 


CONTENTS. 

Page 

I.    The  Unnamed  Disciple i  - 

II.    Each  Man's  Life  a  Plan  of  God 19 

III.  Thou  shalt  know  hereafter 32 

IV.  What  Good  Thing  shall  I  do 48 

V.    The  Heavenly  Vision 64 

VI.    In  Nothing  be  Anxious 80 

VII.  The  True  Life  of  Man  not  in  his  Possessions  94 

VIII.    The  Following  of  Christ      108 

IX.     Our  Citizenship  in  Heaven 121 

X.    For  my  Sake 134 

XL    The  True  Seer 150 

XII.  The  Transformation  of  Character      .    .    .  166 

XIII.  Love  is  the  Fulfilling  of  the  Law     .    .     .  182 

XIV.  Likeness  to  Christ  the  Beginning  and  End 

OF  our  Sonship  to  God 198 

XV.  The  Peace  of  Christ  a  Ruling  Power     .    .  212 

XVI.    The  Law  of  Liberty 228 

XVII.    The  Passing  of  Life 242 

XVIII.    The  Things  that  remain 258- 

XIX.     The  Power  of  Personal  Life 275 

XX.  The  Gifts  and  Lessons  of  the  Years  .    .    .  290 


THE   UNNAMED   DISCIPLE 

Otie  of  the  two  that  heard  John  speak,  attd  followed  Jesus, 
was  Andrew.,  Simon  Peter's  brother. — John  i.  40. 

THE  words  of  this  verse  form  a  part  of  a  brief 
story  from  which  as  a  centre  or  starting-point 
the  entire  Gospel  which  the  Church  ascribes  to  the 
Apostle  John  moves  toward  the  fulfilment  of  its  pur- 
pose. The  story  tells  of  two  disciples  of  John  the 
Baptist,  who  were  pointed  by  him  to  Jesus  as  the 
Son  of  God.  They  followed  Jesus,  and  at  His 
invitation  spent  two  hours  with  Him  at  the  place  of 
His  temporary  sojourning.  In  that  brief  interview 
they  heard  and  saw  enough  to  strengthen  in  their 
minds  the  conviction  that  He  was,  indeed,  what  the 
prophet-teacher  had  testified  concerning  Him,  and 
at  its  close  they  returned  to  their  own  lodgings. 
This  is  all  that  the  narrative  relates ;  but  the  writer 
adds  the  statement,  that  one  of  the  two  was  Andrew, 
Simon  Peter's  brother.  Of  the  other  he  says  nothing 
which  may  determine  his  personality.  What  does 
the  verse,  as  thus  connected  with  the  story,  —  what 
does  the  story,  as  we  think  of  the  two  young  men, 
suggest  to  us? 

It  is  certainly  interesting  to  notice,  that,  so  far  as 
the  Gospels  give  us  any  account  of  the  ministry  of 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

Jesus,  these  two  young  men  were  the  first  ones  who 
became  His  disciples.  As  that  Jewish  day  closed  at 
six  o'clock  in  the  evening,  and  their  two  hours' 
conversation  came  to  its  end,  they  constituted  the 
company  of  believers  —  the  Christian  Church.  What 
was  their  personal  condition?  How  much  did  they 
know?  We  cannot  suppose  that  they  had  made 
any  considerable  progress  in  the  understanding  of 
the  great  spiritual  truths  which  Jesus  had  come  to 
reveal.  It  was  long  after  this  that  they  were  so 
undeveloped  and  uncomprehending  as  to  awaken 
His  astonishment  at  their  slowness  of  heart  to 
believe.  It  was  even  at  the  very  latest  hour  of  His 
life  with  them,  that  they  continued  to  cherish  the 
thought  of  a  temporal  kingdom,  and  were  filled  not 
only  with  sorrow,  but  with  wonder  and  disappoint- 
ment of  their  hopes,  when  His  departure  from  them 
to  the  heavenly  world  was  revealed  as  a  thing  of  the 
immediate  and  certain  future.  They  could  have 
heard  but  little  from  Him  in  those  short  hours  — 
only  enough  to  give  them  some  impression  of  His 
personality  and  some  passing  glimpse  into  the 
depths  of  His  inner  life.  But  they  certainly  saw  for 
themselves  —  this  the  narrative  makes  abundantly 
clear  to  us  —  that  which  caused  the  declaration  of 
John  the  Baptist  to  become  a  living  reality  to  their 
own  consciousness.  He  had  said  to  them,  the  day 
before,  that  a  certain  sign  had  been  made  known  to 
him,  and  that  he  had  been  told  that,  when  that  sign 
should  be  manifested  with  reference  to  one  among 
the  number  of  those  who  were  coming  to  him  for  his 
baptism,  he  could   recognise   by  means   of  it  the 

2 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

Messiah,  to  prepare  whose  way  was  his  appointed 
mission ;  —  and  he  had  added  the  statement  that, 
after  a  time,  he  had  seen  the  sign  appear  as  this 
man  was  baptised.  The  interview  with  Jesus  had 
led  them  to  beheve  that  John  was  right,  and  that  the 
Divine  Spirit  was  with  this  extraordinary  man. 
But  this  was  probably  the  sum  of  the  impression 
produced  upon  them.  What  the  wonderful  power 
was  which  lay  within  His  mind  and  heart,  they 
probably  did  not  appreciate  in  any  measure;  nor 
did  they  know,  if  they  put  themselves  under  His 
guidance,  to  what  He  would  lead  them.  We  may 
believe,  also,  that  the  faith  which  they  had  was  not 
secure  against  all  dangers  of  the  future.  They  could 
scarcely,  in  those  two  hours,  have  gained  a  founda- 
tion for  their  living,  in  whose  security  they  could 
themselves  have  had  entire  confidence.  They  had, 
however,  made  a  beginning,  and  it  was  a  peace- 
ful one  for  their  hearts.  There  are  some  things 
very  instructive  in  their  progress  from  that  hour 
onwards. 

One  of  these  is,  that  they  came  to  Jesus  again, 
the  next  day,  and  sought  to  learn  more  of  what  He 
might  have  to  tell  them.  They  went  with  Him  to 
Cana,  where  they  saw  the  great  miracle  —  perhaps 
to  Jerusalem,  where  He  first  entered  pubHcly  upon 
His  office.  They  suffered  themselves  to  be  won  by 
His  words  and  teachings,  and  to  open  their  hearts  to 
receive  more  and  more.  They  did  not  give  way  to 
doubts  or  questionings  which  might  naturally  have 
arisen,  but  seeing  in  Him  from  the  outset  a  helpful 

3 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

friend,  they  trusted  and  waited.  A  little  while  after- 
wards, they  joined  Him  for  their  life's  work,  and 
lived  in  His  society.  They  entered  more  and  more 
fully  into  His  living,  and  tried  more  and  more  com- 
pletely to  transfer  the  secret  of  that  living  to  their 
own  souls.  They  found,  as  they  moved  onward,  that 
life  became  richer  and  deeper,  broader  and  more 
far-reaching,  as  they  did  this.  In  a  wonderful  way, 
they  discovered  themselves  to  be  ready  to  give  up 
all  things  for  His  sake.  Still  more  wonderfully  — 
when  the  years  had  passed  and,  with  them,  He  had 
gone  into  the  unseen  —  they  learned  that,  in  His 
absence.  He  was  nearer  and  more  to  them  than  He 
had  been  even  in  His  personal  presence.  As  they 
looked  back  from  the  time  near  the  end  of  their 
earthly  career,  they  saw  that  the  progress  had  been 
unbroken  and  uninterrupted,  and  they  believed,  as 
sincerely  as  men  ever  believe  anything — they  knew, 
with  as  much  confidence  as  men  ever  know  anything 
—  that  they  had  made  no  mistake  in  following  the 
impulses  of  that  hour  of  their  early  manhood.  And 
then  they  died,  in  a  calm,  sweet,  joyful  hope  of  some- 
thing better  —  of  a  reunion  with  the  Friend  whom 
they  had  learned  to  love,  and  of  being  like  Him 
when  they  should  see  Him  again. 

Another  thing  is,  that  the  two  —  so  far  as  we  get 
any  knowledge  of  them  from  the  Gospels  and  in 
their  subsequent  career  —  were  very  different  men. 
Andrew  seems,  probably,  to  have  been  a  solid, 
earnest,  yet  ordinary  character ;  a  man  to  be  trusted 
and  respected,  but  not  prominent  like  his  brother, 

4 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

Simon  Peter.  He  was  one  of  the  two.  The  other 
was  the  writer  of  the  Fourth  Gospel  and  the  one 
who  tells  this  opening  story.  The  Christian  Church, 
in  all  the  ages,  has  supposed  him  to  be  the  Apostle 
John.  But  he  gives  himself  no  name.  The  book, 
however,  reveals  to  us  much  of  what  he  was  and 
brings  us  into  a  knowledge  of  his  inner  life.  He 
was,  evidently,  a  man  who  dwelt  largely  in  the 
region  of  that  inner  life.  He  was  contemplative, 
introvertive,  rich  and  deep  in  his  thoughts ;  finding 
his  delight  in  his  own  meditations ;  watchful  of  the 
workings  of  truth  in  his  individual  character ;  with  a 
singular  capacity  for  a  pure  friendship  ;  having  deep 
emotions ;  fitted  to  teach  the  lessons  of  holy  love ; 
able  to  realise  in  himself,  more  than  most  men,  the 
highest  ideal  of  the  soul.  He  was  worthy  to  be  the 
disciple  whom  Jesus  loved. 

But,   notwithstanding   the   wide    difference,  what 
they  began  to  learn  at  that  first  meeting  with  Jesus 
accomplished  the  same  result  for  the  two.     It  be- 
came the  origin  of  and  starting-point  for  the  peculiar 
growth  of  character  which  they  knew  in  their  ex- 
perience afterwards.     It  showed  the  same  marvel- 
lous power  to  work  along  the  lines  of  Andrew's  life, 
which  it  manifested  in  the  life  of  his  companion.     It 
gradually  made  him  more  earnest,  more  trustworthy, 
more  devoted  to  good  works,  more    ready  to  live  , 
for  others,  more  confident  that  life  belongs  to  the  { 
future  rather  than  the  present.     If  he  had  anything  ' 
of  Peter's  character  and  Peter's  experience,  —  if  he 
resembled,  even  though  with  less  of  the  same  quali- 
ties, his  brother,  as  he  may  well  have  done,  —  he 

5 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

found  his  earnestness  and  his  impulses  coming  con- 
stantly under  the  controlling  influences  of  a  new 
power,  and  his  life  glorified  by  an  ennobling  princi- 
ple. What  it  did  for  his  associate  the  following 
narrative  tells  too  plainly,  and  the  world  knows  too 
well,  to  require  it  to  be  set  forth  anew.  But  it 
moved  in  the  region  of  his  emotions,  his  impulses, 
his  love,  his  thoughtfulness,  his  rich,  calm  living,  as 
if  it  were  adapted  only  to  natures  like  his.  It  took 
hold  upon  the  ardor  of  his  fiery  passions,  which 
would,  at  the  first,  have  called  down  fire  from 
heaven  upon  those  who  refused  his  message,  and 
made  the  latest  and  often-repeated  exhortation  of 
his  closing  years,  which  he  addressed  to  every 
Christian  believer  within  his  influence,  to  be  in  the 
words,  Little  children,  love  one  another.  It  pene- 
trated within  the  ambitious  feeling  of  the  earlier 
manhood,  whose  desire  and  demand  were  for  the 
highest  places  in  the  new  kingdom,  and,  by  its  grad- 
ual yet  silent  energy,  so  transformed  it  into  a  loftier 
sentiment  that,  half  a  century  afterward,  he  was  not 
willing  even  to  name  himself  in  his  own  writing. 
He  was  gladly  ready  to  leave  the  world  without  the 
knowledge  of  the  author  of  the  beautiful  story  which 
he  had  to  tell,  if  so  be  that  it  would  only  believe 
in  Him  of  whose  kingdom  and  power  and  love  the 
story  was  designed  to  be  full. 

We  can  think  of  the  two,  at  the  end,  and  so  of 
Peter  and  James,  of  Nathanael  and  Philip,  who  came 
to  Jesus  immediately  afterward,  as  each  one  of  them 
feeling  in  his  own  soul  and  saying  to  himself,  that 
the  energising  force  gained  on  that  first  day,  which 

6 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

had  wrought  such  a  change  in  character  as  the 
years  moved  on,  could  have  been  fitted  for  no  other 
hfe  so  perfectly  as  for  his  own,  —  and  wondering, 
as  we  sometimes  do  when  we  are  thinking,  in  the 
joy  of  our  own  experience,  of  the  best  and  truest 
things  of  life,  such  as  friendship,  love,  and  home, 
whether  they  can  be  to  any  other  what  they  are  to 
us.  But  that  they  are  to  every  one  what  they  are 
to  us  — only  with  a  richer  gift  as  the  nature,  which 
is  open  to  receive  it,  is  richer  and  deeper  —  is  the 
very  proof  that  they  arc  the  truest  and  best  things 
in  our  living.  And  so  that  friendship  with  Jesus 
was  the  most  real  of  all  things  to  each  one  of  that 
company  while  they  lived,  and  when  they  died. 

Another  thing,  which  we  may  notice,  is,  that  the 
confidence  of  the  two  men  in  the  reality  of  the 
friendship  and  its  life-giving  force  was  the  same, 
and  that  all  their  life's  progress,  so  far  as  their  belief 
in  what  Jesus  taught  them  was  concerned,  was  a  very 
quiet  and  restful  one.  They  had  stormy  conflicts  in 
their  lives,  as  all  men  have ;  as  all  men  engaged  in  a 
good  cause  in  such  an  age  most  peculiarly  must 
have  had.  They  were  exposed  to  the  doubtings  and 
opposition  of  enemies  to  their  faith.  They  may, 
moreover,  have  seen  many  difficulties  in  the  system 
of  doctrine  to  which  they  were  committed,  whose 
full  solution  must  be  waited  for  until  some  coming 
time  or  clearer  day.  They  certainly  had  a  terrible 
trial  of  their  belief  when  they  saw  all  the  old  ideas 
derived  from  their  early  education  overthrown  by 
the    crucifixion    of   the    Messiah.       They    may,    no 

7 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

doubt,  have  been  despondent;  and  have  questioned 
the  reaHty  of  their  own  behef  or  love  sometimes. 
But  it  is  manifest  that,  when  they  retired  in  thought 
into  that  central  place  in  their  minds  where  their 
faith  in  Christ  and  His  teaching  dwelt,  they  were 
perfectly  peaceful.  Whether  their  faith  was  weaker 
or  stronger ;  whether  it  was  as  at  the  first  hour,  or 
at  the  last;  it  was  /;/  itself  calm  and  conscious  of  its 
own  foundation.  They  did  not  have  to  argue  for  it 
with  themselves,  or  strengthen  it  by  contending 
against  other  systems  of  belief,  or  spend  their  time, 
on  their  own  behalf,  in  supporting  it  and  undertak- 
ing laborious  defences  of  it,  or  encourage  their 
hearts  against  the  dangers  of  its  possible  failure  by 
making  a  continual  outcry  about  it  of  any  sort.  So 
far  as  it  existed  in  their  hearts,  the  wonderful  fact 
about  it  was,  that  it  was  something /^r  tJicm  to  rest 
upon,  —  and  not  something  which  needed, _/<?;'  itself, 
to  lean  tipon  them  —  their  confidence,  their  argu- 
ments, or  even  their  willingness  to  keep  it  alive 
within  themselves.  It  was  wonderfully  like  the 
truth,  in  this  regard.  It  seemed  to  be  wonderfully 
near  to  the  truth. 

This  was  the  fact,  also,  with  the  whole  Apostolic 
company  in  the  subsequent  years.  The  argumen- 
tative writer  of  the  Pauline  Epistles,  who  seems  as 
if  eager  for  conflict  with  any  and  every  enemy,  who 
moves  along  the  defences  of  the  Christian  system 
as  if  the  hero  of  a  hundred  battles,  and  tries  every- 
where to  subdue  the  assailant  and  strengthen  the 
courage  of  the  doubting  by  appealing  to  proofs 
and  evidences ;   and,  on   the  other  hand,  the   medi- 

8 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

tative  author  of  the  Gospel  narrative,  who  tells 
a  simple  story  of  what  he  saw  in  earlier  years, 
and  leaves  the  strange  facts  and  the  deep  thoughts 
to  make  their  own  impression,  are  alike,  when  they 
come  to  their  individual  faith.  They  are  not 
afraid  of  discussions  with  other  men  when  necessity 
arises,  but  they  do  not  live  on  them  or  in  them 
within  themselves.  Different  from  each  other  as 
they  may  be  in  every  other  regard,  they  are  at  one 
here.  And  so  are  all  the  rest,  Andrew  and  Peter, 
Philip  and  his  friend  Nathanael,  James  the  Lord's 
brother  and  James  the  son  of  Zebedee,  each  and 
all  find  something,  as  they  first  meet  the  Lord, 
which  becomes  to  their  souls,  and  remains  ever  in 
their  souls,  a  firm  foundation  of  character  and  of 
hope  —  which  bears  in  itself,  for  the  personal  life, 
the  gift  of  a  calm  and  peaceful  joy,  when  it  makes 
its  first  entrance  into  that  life,  and  which  knows 
no  fears  for  its  own  safety  or  dangers  for  its  own 
permanence  ever  afterward. 

We  may  notice  again,  that  the  effect  of  the  meeting 
with  Jesus  upon  the  action  of  the  two  men  was  the 
same.  The  narrative  distinctly  states,  with  respect 
to  one  of  them,  that  he  went  immediately  to  his 
brother,  and  made  known  to  him  what  he  believed 
himself  to  have  found.  It  indicates  —  what  is  more 
clear  to  the  reader  of  the  original  than  it  can  be  in 
our  English  Version  —  that  the  other  did  the  same 
thing.  With  the  impulse  which  comes  to  every 
generous,  manly  man,  to  give  to  another  the  knowl- 
edge of  what  has  proved  a  great  blessing  in  his 

9 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

own  experience,  they  told  their  story  to  these  mem- 
bers of  their  households.  Apparently,  from  the 
records  of  the  other  Gospels,  these  two  pairs  of 
brothers  and  their  families  had  been  previously  in 
the  relations  of  friendship.  We  cannot  wonder, 
therefore,  that  the  two  who  had  the  first  opportunity 
of  a  conversation  with  the  man  to  whom  John  the 
Baptist  had  pointed  them,  and  who  had  been  so 
impressed  by  His  personality  and  His  words,  should 
have  desired  to  bring  the  other  two  to  meet  Him 
and  to  hear  Him.  Philip  did  the  same  thing  for 
Nathanael. 

How  naturally  it  was  done !  How  quietly,  and 
away  from  the  knowledge  of  the  rulers  and  the 
world  !  How  far  from  the  dreamings  even  of  the 
Jewish  authorities,  or  the  Pharisees  and  the  scribes, 
was  the  thought  that  a  new  power  had  begun  to 
work  in  the  world  on  that  afternoon.  But  the  next 
morning  there  were  six  disciples,  where  there  had 
been  before  none  at  all ;  and  the  number  was 
never  to  be  so  small  as  on  that  second  morning, 
for  eighteen  hundred  years.  It  was,  on  the  other 
hand,  to  grow  and  enlarge  —  until,  after  a  season, 
the  Jewish  authorities  were  to  pass  away  —  and, 
after  a  longer  period,  the  new  power  was  to  lay 
hold  upon  governments  and  nations  —  and,  when 
centuries  had  elapsed,  was  to  become  the  mightiest 
force  in  the  world.  But  the  growth  was  to  be  con- 
stantly in  the  same  way.  The  one  man  —  or  each 
one  of  the  two  men,  if  so  it  has  chanced  to  be  — 
discovers  the  power  for  himself  and  in  his  own  life. 
He   comes,    by  some   means,    into    communication 

lO 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

with  Jesus  Christ,  into  His  society,  under  Plis  in- 
fluence. He  gains  what  each  of  those  men  gained 
on  that  afternoon,  and  he  tells  the  story  of  his  own 
happiness  to  his  friend.  Who  shall  know  it?  Who 
can  prevent  it?  But  the  secret  of  the  power  is 
there. 

The  Church  began  its  history  in  the  hours  of 
that  first  meeting.  It  took  to  itself  in  those  first 
hours,  and  in  the  hours  that  followed  after  them, 
its  Divinely  given  life  and  its  ever-living  forces. 
By  reason  of  these  forces  it  put  forth  its  power,  as 
the  very  necessity  of  the  life  to  which  they  belonged 
—  a  power  which  moved,  like  the  forces  of  nature, 
quietly  but  resistlessly  —  and  the  great  work  went 
onward  as  with  a  Divine  energy.  The  beginning, 
we  may  well  remember,  was  with  the  two  men  and 
the  one  man,  and  in  their  coming  together.  The 
first  movement  forward  was  with  the  two  men  and 
their  brothers,  and  in  the  words  which  were  spoken. 
The  progress  of  the  history  has  been  like  the 
beginning. 

Once  more  we  may  notice,  that  the  two  persons 
in  the  story  were,  in  a  special  sense,  unknown  men. 
Not  only  were  they  obscure  Galilean  fishermen, 
away  from  the  centres  of  life  and  influence.  Even 
so  far  as  the  history  presents  them  to  us,  they  were 
out  of  the  world's  view.  One  of  them  appears  in 
the  Gospel  narrative  only  in  three  or  four  places, 
and  of  his  life  we  have  but  little  information,  either 
then  or  afterwards.  The  other  withdraws  himself 
almost  wholly  from  sight,  and  is  the  unnamed  dis- 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

ciple.  His  personality  becomes  known  to  us  only 
by  testimony  from  others,  and  by  inferences  which 
we  draw  from  what  he  says.  Their  inspiration 
sprang  from  sources  hidden,  as  far  as  possible,  from 
the  notice  of  mankind.  They  doubtless  thought  of 
themselves,  that  afternoon,  as  quite  insignificant 
persons,  who  had  little  chance  or  hope  of  wide  in- 
fluence. They  had  been  attracted  by  the  power  of 
John  the  Baptist's  preaching,  and  had  been  aroused 
to  new  and  deeper  views  of  life  through  what  he 
said.  They  now  came  to  Jesus,  because  of  what 
John  had  told  them,  that  they  might  discover  some 
good  for  themselves  —  perhaps,  without  a  thought  or 
expectation  of  ever  talking  with  Him  again — almost 
certainly  without  the  idea  of  becoming  preachers 
of  His  truth  and  doctrine.  But  in  those  two  hours 
they  received  the  beginning  of  a  new  life,  and  a 
strange  impulse  to  speak  of  it  to  their  friends.  They 
began  immediately  the  work  of  building  up  the 
Church  in  the  world.  Half-unconscious  they  were, 
no  doubt,  of  what  they  were  doing.  But  they  were 
doing ;  —  obscure  men,  as  they  were,  setting  in 
motion  forces  which  would  never  cease. 

What  an  impressive  scene,  that  on  which  our 
thoughts  are  turning  is,  as  we  think  of  it  thus.  One 
of  the  two  that  heard  John  speak  and  followed  Jesus 
was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother.  Andrew  was 
only  Simon  Peter's  brother  —  and  nothing  in  him- 
self. And  he  was  one  of  the  two.  Who  was  the 
other,  we  ask  instinctively,  as  we  read  the  words. 
With  how  much  deeper  interest  —  with  an  interest 
and  wonder  how  continually  increasing  and  deepen- 

12 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

ing — does  the  question  repeat  itself,  as  we  read  on 
through  the  chapters  and  see  what  a  man  he  was. 
But  the  only  answer  is,  He  was  the  disciple  whom 
Jesus  loved.  He  follows  along  the  pathway  of  the 
Master's  life.  He  goes  with  Him  in  the  bright 
hours,  and  the  dark  hours.  He  finds  his  place  next 
Him  at  the  last  supper.  He  is  with  Him  in  the  gar- 
den, at  His  examination  in  the  house  of  Annas,  and 
at  the  cross.  He  is  the  one  for  whom  the  longest 
life  and  work  seem  to  be  appointed.  But  he  never 
tells  us  his  name,  or  fully  answers  our  question. 
He  moves  our  souls,  and  testifies  for  the  Lord,  not  by 
his  position  or  the  honours  bestowed  upon  him ;  but 
simply  by  the  story  which  he  has  to  relate,  and  the 
evident  transforming  and  uplifting  power  of  the 
things  recorded  in  the  story  upon  his  own  character. 
The  unnamed  disciple  has  had  more  elevating  influ- 
ence for  the  noblest  minds  and  hearts,  by  the  inci- 
dental manifestations  of  what  he  was  and  M'hat 
Christianity  did  for  him,  than  any  other  man,  per- 
haps, that  has  ever  lived. 

I  know  of  no  little  narrative  in  all  the  Gospel 
story,  which  has  more  of  suggestion  in  it  than  this 
one  whose  closing  words  are  in  our  text.  And 
especially  are  the  suggestions  those  which  encourage 
confidence  in  our  Christian  faith. 

As  we  look  along  the  line  of  our  own  experience, 
how  remarkable  it  is,  that,  while  sceptics  and 
doubters  all  about  us  are  always  discussing  and 
questioning  —  never  themselves  at  rest,  and  never 
suffering  those  who  disagree  with  them,  and  believe 

13 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

the  Christian  truth,  to  be  in  the  undisturbed  pos- 
session of  their  faith,  —  every  Christian  behever 
finds  peaceful  quiet  in  himself  so  soon  as  he  accepts 
the  Christian  teaching;  that  he  does  not  find  him- 
self compelled  to  prop  his  faith  by  constant  argu- 
ments, or  to  strengthen  it  by  showing  his  enemy's 
weakness ;  that  he  lets  it  take  care  of  itself,  and  feels 
sure  that  it  will  take  care  of  him  ;  that  he  has  the 
same  sense  of  restfulness  in  it,  when  he  is  seventy, 
as  when  he  is  thirty ;  that  this  is  so  in  men  of  all 
characters,  and  all  ages,  and  all  differences,  so  soon 
as  the  faith  comes  to  them,  and  they  are  near  to 
Christ.  I  think  that  the  things  which  we  can  leave 
thus  in  our  souls,  without  supposing  them  to  be  in 
danger  unless  we  are  always  contending  for  them  in 
ourselves  or  with  others  —  which  every  man  who  has 
them  is  disposed  thus  to  leave,  because  they  seem 
to  him,  at  once  and  always,  to  have  a  firm  founda- 
tion—  bear  with  them,  in  this  very  fact,  the  strongest 
evidence  that  they  are  thus  founded.  The  doubters 
do  not  rest  quietly  in  their  doubts,  and  the  mind 
never  does  in  negations. 

And  then,  what  a  wonderful  thing  is  influence. 
It  seemed  but  an  accident  that  Jesus  happened  to  be 
passing  in  the  neighbourhood  of  John  the  Baptist  on 
that  afternoon,  and  that  those  two  young  men  had 
the  opportunity  of  meeting  Him  for  an  hour  or  two. 
But  there  went  forth  from  His  words  and  His  pres- 
ence a  force  which  took  hold  upon  them  both. 
The  force  moved  them  both  to  action,  as  has  been 
already  said.     In  the  case  of  the  one,  we  have  no 

14 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

record  of  the  later  years,  but  we  know  that  his  new 
influence  began  at  once  in  the  persuasion  of  his 
brother,  and  we  know  that  it  went  out  everywhere, 
wherever  that  brother  carried  the  Gospel  message,  as 
well  as  wherever  hq  carried  it  himself  And  thus  it 
reached  beyond  his  knowledge  of  its  limits,  as  well 
as  beyond  our  knowledge.  The  other  of  the  two, 
long  years  afterwards,  when  his  associates  of  the 
Apostolic  company  had  passed  away  and  life  was 
advancing  far  onward  towards  its  ending  for  himself, 
was  moved  —  perhaps  by  the  discussions  of  culti- 
vated men  around  him  in  the  city  where  he  lived, 
respecting  God  and  His  connection  with  the  world 
—  to  tell  of  his  own  life  with  Jesus.  With  no  desire 
to  speak  of  himself,  except  as  showing  that  he  had 
seen  and  heard  the  things  which  he  relates,  and  thus 
giving  weight  to  his  testimony,  he  presents  much  of 
the  record  of  his  own  history  and  of  the  explan- 
ation as  to  how  his  life  came  to  be  what  it  was.  The 
little  book  goes  out  to  those  for  whom  it  was  in- 
tended, and,  by  accident  or  Providence  as  we  say,  it 
is  preserved  for  the  future.  It  goes  hither  and 
thither,  —  and  down  the  generations.  A  few  years 
ago,  it  opened  its  power  in  my  soul,  or  yours.  The 
world  put  on  a  new  aspect  to  our  view,  and  seemed 
under  a  heavenly  influence  all  at  once.  Life  grew 
to  us  less  external,  and  more  internal.  The  Friend, 
whom  he  met  so  long  ago,  appeared  as  a  real  pres- 
ence to  our  thought.  He  spoke  to  us  by  His  Spirit, 
as  He  did  with  the  voice  to  this  writer  and  his 
associate.  New  impulses  came  to  us ;  new  faith  was 
awakened ;  deeper  life  began.  The  old  question- 
's 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

ings  passed  away,  and  peacefulness  followed.  And 
we  tell  the  story  of  it  all  to  those  whom  we  love  most 
tenderly,  as  the  best  thing  which  we  can  give  them 
in  life,  and  for  life.  One  of  the  two  was  Andrew. 
Who  was  the  other?  He  was  a  man  in  the  ages 
long  since  passed  away,  who  had  a  beautiful  life  in  a 
beautiful  soul,  and  it  was  gained  in  Christ's  presence 
from  Christ's  teaching.  It  was  the  thought  that 
worked  in  his  mind  and  heart,  which  constituted  the 
peculiar  influence — and  it  matters  little  who  he 
was,  or  who  we  are.  The  greatest  of  Heaven's  gifts 
to  us  may  be  just  this — that  the  influence  came 
forth  from  him  and  reached  to  our  souls ;  and,  in  the 
future,  the  sower  and  the  reaper  will  rejoice  together. 
And  so  the  single  thought  or  word  —  the  mani- 
festation of  true  life  in  the  soul  —  which  may  go 
forth  from  you  or  me,  to-day  or  to-morrow;  which 
may  be  forgotten  even  by  ourselves  in  a  little  while, 
or  of  which,  at  the  time,  we  may  be  ourselves  uncon- 
scious —  may  enter  the  life  and  thought  of  another, 
and,  as  it  works  through  him,  may  go  forth  into  his 
future  influence  and  thus  perchance  find  a  permanent 
lodgment  in  some  mind,  after  a  season,  which  knows 
nothing  of  our  having  ever  lived,  and  whose  sphere 
of  thought  may  be  in  a  far  distant  part  of  the  world. 
But  it  was  a  word  spoken  or  lived  for  the  truth,  and 
the  one  who  gave  it  forth,  and  the  one  who  shall 
receive  it,  find  in  it,  alike,  the  same  testimony  :  that 
Jesus  Christ  is  the  way,  and  the  truth,  and  the  life. 

As  a  force,  also,  in  the  souls  of  both,  it  is  and  will 
be  the  same  thing.     We  may  be  apart  from  each 

i6 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

Other  in  our  employments,  in  our  mode  of  earthly 
living,  in  our  associations,  in  our  style  of  thinking, 
in  our  vdews  of  Christian  doctrine  even,  in  many 
respects.  We  may  even  misunderstand  each  other, 
and,  from  a  half  knowledge  of  the  truth  on  either 
side,  may  contend,  and  pass  condemnation,  and 
sometimes  lose  out  of  our  hearts,  for  a  season,  the 
love  that  believcth  and  hopcth  all  things.  But  the 
energy  of  that  something  which  we  gained  through 
the  Divine  influence  will  enter  into  our  souls  under- 
neath all  peculiarities  of  our  thinking  or  living  —  far 
below  the  sphere  of  our  misapprehensions  of  one 
another  and  our  earnest  conflicts  —  and  will  move,  in 
each  one  of  us,  along  the  lines  of  individual  charac- 
ter toward  the  same  ennobling  of  the  soul,  reaching 
out  ever  towards  the  perfection  of  true  life.  Peter 
and  Paul  contended  ;  the  Apostles  were  but  partially 
enlightened  in  the  early  years ;  the  truth  in  its  ful- 
ness was  beyond  them.  But  Christ,  the  common 
Master,  was  the  same.  The  work  which  His  life- 
power  did  in  them  and  for  them  was,  also,  the  same. 
The  influence  which  they  passed  over  to  the  future 
was  to  the  same  great  end.  And  the  one  thing,  need- 
ful for  all,  was  accomplished  equally,  and  by  the 
same  power,  for  the  humblest  peasant  in  Galilee  who 
entered  in  the  earliest  days  into  fellowship  with  Jesus, 
and  for  the  most  cultivated  and  honored  saint  who 
may  have  died,  the  last  year,  in  a  Christian  country. 
The  power  was  unto  salvation  in  both  cases  alike. 

I  do  not  see  how  any  thoughtful  man,  with  his 
heart  open  to  purest  thought  and  influence,  can  read 
2  17 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

the  simple  story  to  which  this  suggestive  verse 
belongs,  and  doubt  afterward  the  final  triumph  of 
the  kingdom  ;  or  how  such  a  man  can  fail  to  believe 
that,  in  those  early  hours  of  communion  with  Jesus, 
the  author  of  the  record  discovered  that  which 
transformed  his  living  into  an  immortal  beauty. 
And  if  the  record  of  the  reader  of  the  story  in  the 
future  is,  like  that  of  the  writer  of  it,  lost,  as  it  were, 
in  the  words  :  "  And  one  of  the  two  that  followed 
Jesus  was  Andrew,  Simon  Peter's  brother,"  he  will 
still  find  for  himself  in  the  hour  of  his  first  friendship 
with  Christ  the  value  of  all  life,  and  the  glory  of  it 
also. 


i8 


II 

EACH   MAN'S   LIFE   A   PLAN   OF   GOD 

Verily,  verily,  I  say  unto  thee,  when  thou  wast  yoiitig,  thoji 
girdedst  thyself  and  walkedst  whither  thou  wouldest:  but 
when  thou  shalt  be  old,  thou  shall  stretch  forth  thy  handsy 
and  another  shall  gird  thee,  and  carry  thee  whither  thou 
wouldest  not.  Now  this  he  spake,  signifying  by  what  death 
he  shoicld  glorify  God.  And  when  he  had  spoken  this  he 
saith  utito  him,  Follow  me.  Peter,  turning  about,  seeth 
the  disciple  whotn  fesus  loved  following j  which  also  leatied 
back  07t  his  breast  at  the  stepper  and  said.  Lord,  who  is  he 
that  betray  eth  thee?  Peter  therefore  seeing  him  saith  nnto 
fesus.  Lord,  and  what  shall  this  ntan  do?  fesus  saith  unto 
him,  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to 
thee?  Follow  thou  me.  This  saying  therefore  weiit forth 
among  the  brethren,  that  that  disciple  should  not  die  :  yet 
fesus  said  not  unto  hitn,  that  he  should  not  diej  but,  If  I 
will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee  ? 

John  xxi.  18-23. 

THESE  verses  of  the  closing  chapter  of  John's 
Gospel  present  before  us  some  of  the  last 
words  of  Jesus,  which  were  addressed  to  two  of  His 
most  prominent  disciples.  With  reference  to  both 
of  them  the  words  apparently  foretell  something  of 
their  future  career,  and  especially  somewhat  as  to 
the  manner  of  their  dying.  I  propose  to  consider 
them  as  they  may  offer  directly  or  indirectly  certain 
thoughts  and  teachings. 

19 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

The  characters  and  work  of  the  two  men  were 
very  different.  Peter,  as  he  is  presented  before  us 
in  the  New  Testament,  and  according  to  the  picture 
which  we  form  of  him,  was  full  of  energy,  ardent, 
impulsive,  ready  for  every  new  and  worthy  under- 
taking, practical,  a  leader  for  other  men  of  action  to 
follow.  John,  at  least  as  we  know  him  in  his  later 
years,  was  quiet,  calm,  thoughtful,  dwelling  more  in 
the  internal  than  the  external,  a  lover  of  the  truth 
and  meditating  upon  it,  rather  than  one  who  found 
his  chief  joy  and  satisfaction  in  the  activities  of  the 
world.  It  is  certainly  suggestive  to  thought,  if  we 
notice  what  Jesus  said  to  them,  as  connected  with 
these  differences,  —  especially  if  we  bear  also  in 
mind  what  the  future  in  each  case  proved  to  be,  so 
far  as  the  tradition  of  the  Church  has  made  it  known 
to  us. 

In  the  first  place,  the  manner  of  living  and  dying 
which  is  predicted  for  each  of  the  two  men  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  character  of  each.  The  man  of 
fiery  energy,  and  eager  for  action  and  conflict,  had 
begun  his  career  by  the  carrying  out  of  his  own  im- 
pulses. He  was  the  impersonation,  as  we  may  say,  of 
youth,  in  his  younger  years,  —  pushing  his  way  for- 
ward according  to  his  personal  will ;  a  firm  believer 
in  himself  and  his  own  powers;  arrested  by  no  diffi- 
culties or  opposition  ;  determined  to  conquer  and  to 
succeed.  The  future  for  him,  according  to  the  ordi- 
nary laws  of  life,  was  to  open  toward  greater  conflicts 
and  harder  struggles.  His  very  method  of  working 
would    bring   him    into  the  midst    of  dangers    and 

20 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

enmities.  He  would  rouse  the  evil  passions  of  men, 
and  excite  them  to  throw  every  possible  hindrance 
in  his  path,  or  even  to  contend  against  him  with 
their  deadliest  weapons.  In  an  age  like  that  in 
which  he  lived  and  a  work  such  as  the  one  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  a  man  of  his  character  would 
be  peculiarly  exposed  to  violent  opposition.  He 
would  be  as  a  single  man  contending  against  a 
thousand.  The  truth  for  which  he  strove  was  dis- 
believed. It  was  rejected  by  men  of  every  class. 
It  was  hated  by  all  who  saw  in  it  danger  to  their 
own  systems  of  faith,  or  to  their  personal  success  or 
power.  The  career  of  such  a  man  must  be  filled 
with  fightings.  In  any  period  of  the  world's  history, 
it  must  be  liable  to  end  in  defeat  for  himself,  if  not 
for  the  cause  which  he  advocates.  But,  in  such  an 
epoch  as  that  in  which  Peter  was  living,  defeat  meant 
death,  and  that  by  violence.  Jesus  predicted  only 
what  might,  not  unnaturally,  be  expected,  —  that 
the  time  was  coming  when,  having  grown  old  in  the 
conflict  and  in  years,  the  ardent  and  active  disciple, 
who  had  in  his  earlier  life  girded  himself  and  moved 
whithersoever  he  would,  would  be  overcome  and  led 
forth  at  the  will  of  others,  even  to  execution.  He 
would  glorify  God  by  a  martyr's  death. 

But  equally  in  the  case  of  the  other  disciple  was 
the  prophecy  of  Jesus  in  accordance  with  the  natural 
movement  and  ending  of  a  life  like  his.  The  calm 
spirit,  which  thinks  and  loves,  —  which  tells  its 
thoughts  and  shows  its  love,  —  awakens  no  violent 
opposition.  It  dwells  apart  from  strifes,  even  if  it 
dwells  near  the  world's  active  life.     It  moves  serenely 

21 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

forward,  and  the  years  go  by.  If  the  hfe  chances  to 
be  lengthened  out  to  extreme  old  age,  and  the  mind 
is  in  its  full  power  at  the  latest  season,  the  passing 
on  and  the  passing  away  may  be  but  as  the  change 
of  the  daylight  hour  to  the  beautiful  evening  time. 

The  suggestion  of  the  text,  in  this  view  of  it,  I 
think  may  be  this :  —  that  as,  in  the  ordering  of 
Providence,  we  are  born  with  varying  characters 
and  gifts,  and  are  assigned  to  different  works  for 
God  in  the  world,  so  we  may  believe  that  there  is 
a  plan  for  every  one,  formed,  and  watched  over, 
and  carried  to  its  completion  by  the  Divine  Friend 
who  calls  us  into  His  service.  How  often  we  find, 
in  our  individual  experience,  that  we  never  escape 
the  besetment  of  peculiar  difficulties  or  trials,  which 
other  men  around  us  either  do  not  have,  or  grow 
out  of  as  the  years  move  onward.  We  hope  to 
escape  them — we  wonder  that  we  do  not,  it  may 
be  —  but  we  find  them  always  with  us.  Is  it  not 
the  Lord's  appointment  —  not  as  an  arbitrary  or 
outward  thing,  but  as  a  part  and  outgrowth  of  our 
peculiar  nature?  Is  not  the  true  way  of  looking  at 
it  this:  that  we  —  in  our  individuality  of  nature  — 
were  made  for  the  accomplishment  of  a  special 
Divine  purpose  ;  for  the  showing  forth  of  a  Divinely- 
formed  character  and  life  in  one  particular  light; 
and  that  all  allotments  of  experience  are  wisely 
fitted  to  realise  the  end?  The  work  of  Peter  as  a 
disciple  of  Jesus  was  intended  to  be  different  from 
that  of  John.  He  was  to  show  the  development  of 
true  life  in  a  different  way.  The  career  followed  the 
line  of  the  native  endowments.     The  trials  and  sue- 


THE  INN-ER  LIFE 

cesses,  the  defeats  and  victories,  as  they  were  seen 
in  the  progress  of  his  hving  and  foreseen  by  the 
Master,  were  in  accordance  with  what  was  fore- 
shadowed in  that  manifestation  of  the  Divine  pur- 
pose which  was  seen  in  the  making  of  the  man. 

We  do  not  penetrate  the  heavenly  wisdom,  in- 
deed, and  we  cannot  say  that  this  is  a  full  account 
of  what  we  call  the  Providential  dealing  with  us. 
But  may  we  not  say  that  it  is  a  partial  one?  And 
if  it  is  so,  surely  it  takes  up  all  our  living,  and  every 
part  of  our  experience,  into  God's  plan  and  pur- 
pose —  and  brings  us  the  lesson  of  trust  and  con- 
fidence that  the  natural  movement  of  our  life,  as 
we  call  it,  is  under  a  supernatural  guidance,  and 
that,  in  our  allotment  of  every  sort,  and  in  the 
dying  at  the  end,  we  are  guarded  and  guided  by 
a  Father's  love. 

In  the  second  place,  we  may  notice  what  Jesus 
says  to  Peter  in  answer  to  his  inquiry  respecting  the 
appointed  destiny  of  his  friend  and  associate.  The 
manner  of  his  own  dying  had  been  foretold  to  him ; 
and  now,  as  he  sees  this  friend  approaching,  his 
mind  naturally  turns  to  the  thought  of  his  future. 
What  of  this  man  —  what  shall  be  his  experience? 
The  Lord  answers.  If  I  will  that  he  tarry  till  I  come, 
what  is  that  to  thee?  There  is  in  this  answer 
nothing  of  definiteness,  —  at  the  most,  only  a  sug- 
gestion that  John's  life  would  be  longer  and  quieter 
than  that  of  Peter  himself  But  the  main  word  for 
the  latter  disciple  is  the  pointed  question.  What  is 
that  to  thee?  with  the  bidding,  Follow  thou  me. 

23 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

What  is  the  lesson  given  here?  Evidently,  as  a 
first  part  of  it,  that  curious  inquiry  into  what  may 
He  before  our  friends,  or  even  ourselves,  is  not  the 
thing  to  occupy  our  minds.  The  appointed  work 
for  us  is,  to  follow  the  Lord,  each  one  for  himself. 
Peter  had,  indeed,  been  told,  as  most  men  are  not, 
and  even  the  other  disciples  were  not,  that  a  death 
of  violence  was  before  him,  and  would  come  when 
he  should  have  passed  within  the  limits  of  old  age. 
But  the  language  used  in  giving  him  this  assurance 
was  figurative  in  its  character,  and  might  naturally 
suggest  a  career  of  trial  and  defeat,  rather  than  its 
ending  only.  Indeed  the  form  of  expression  used 
by  the  evangelist  is  such  as  to  intimate  that  the 
understanding  of  the  words  with  reference  alone  to 
Peter's  death  came  to  the  minds  of  the  disciples  only 
at  a  later  period.  As  to  the  time  and  the  particular 
mode  of  dying,  they  were  certainly  indefinite.  But 
when  the  inquiry  was  turned  to  John's  fate,  the  answer 
was  only  with  an  if,  and  it  revealed  nothing  beyond 
the  possibility  of  the  Divine  will.  The  if  did  not 
gain  its  interpretation  till  the  fact  was  realised  — 
nor,  indeed,  even  then,  for,  if  we  may  believe  in  any 
measure  the  story  which  has  come  down  to  us, 
many  thought,  after  John  had  made  the  correction 
which  he  gives,  and  after  he  had  passed  away,  that 
he  was  not  dead,  but  was  to  live  until  the  Lord's 
second  coming.  Not  questioning,  but  working,  is 
the  Christian's  duty ;  —  this  is  the  first  part  of  the 
lesson. 

And  a  second  part  seems  to  be  this :  —  that,  in 
the  working,  duty  lies  in  the  pathway  of  individual 

24 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

capacities  and  powers.  Peter  was  called  to  follow 
the  Lord  in  the  line  where,  with  his  natural  charac- 
teristics, he  could  best  serve  Him ;  the  line  which 
would  end,  indeed,  in  martyrdom.  But  he  was  not 
to  be  planning  for  martyrdom,  or  thinking  of  it. 
The  prophecy  which  foretold  it  was,  at  the  most, 
to  be  an  inspiration  to  him  in  his  career — -for  the 
reason  that  the  career  was  to  end  in  a  glorifying  of 
God  after  the  manner  in  which  Jesus  Himself  was 
about  to  glorify  Him.  The  following  of  the  Master 
was  to  be  the  object  of  his  thought  —  a  daily  follow- 
ing, according  as  the  way  of  service  should  become 
manifest,  and  the  way  in  which  the  Master  would 
have  walked,  had  He  been  in  his  place,  should  be 
made  known.  Think  not  of  to-morrow,  or  the  end, 
is  the  teaching — think  of  to-day,  and  its  work. 
How  simple  the  bidding  was :  Follow  me.  How 
peaceful  it  was — The  future  belongs  to  God;  it  is -^ 
the  object  of  His  care  and  thought;  it  will  be  one 
thing  for  one  of  his  children,  and  another  for  an- 
other ;  and  for  both  alike  it  will  be  but  the  following 
out  of  that  plan  which  He  undertook  to  carry  on 
at  the  beginning.  If  each  shall  follow — to-day  as 
it  comes,  and  to-morrow  as  it  comes  —  the  call  of 
the  Lord,  the  ending  will  be  provided  for,  and, 
whatever  it  be,  it  will  be  a  glorifying  of  God. 

It  is  significant  that  this  same  bidding  follows  the 
prophecy  of  Peter's  death  and  the  answer  respecting 
John's  future.  As  if  Jesus  had  said:  When  the 
vision  is  given  for  a  moment,  and  in  a  figure  as  it 
were,  of  what  is  before  thyself,  let  it  only  move  thee 
to  a  more  earnest  devotion  to  the  duty  which  offers 

25 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

itself  at  the  same  moment ;  —  and  when  the  sight  of 
another's  destiny  is  absolutely  denied  thee,  still  have 
the  same  earnestness.  And  so  His  last  words  to 
these  two  most  intimate  and  beloved  friends  are  the 
words  which  He  uttered  at  the  beginning  of  His 
public  ministry :  Live  the  right  life  to-day,  and  be 
not  anxious  for  to-morrow. 

What  a  wonderful  peace  there  must  have  been 
in  the  inmost  souls  of  these  two  disciples  if  they 
guided  their  lives  by  these  words  in  the  years  which 
came  afterward  —  the  one  moving  on  to  his  martyr- 
dom, and  the  other  to  his  quiet  death  and  the  falling 
asleep  that  seemed  to  those  about  him  to  be  another 
thing  than  death,  but  both  hearing  the  Lord's  voice 
daily,  saying,  "  Follow  me,"  for  the  present ;  and, 
"What  is  it  to  thee?"  of  the  future. 

A  third  suggestion  of  the  text  is  as  to  the  true 
estimate  which  is  to  be  placed  upon  different  kinds 
of  life.  The  praise  of  mankind  is  always  prone  to 
go  towards  those  whose  lives  are  passed,  as  we  say, 
on  the  scene  of  action  —  the  leaders  of  men  in  the 
struggle  and  warfare.  But  it  is  a  striking  fact, 
worthy  of  serious  reflection,  that  it  was  not  Peter, 
but  John,  to  whom  in  the  Divine  plan  the  longest 
life  was  assigned.  And  this  longest  life  was  not 
mere  living,  but  the  accomplishing  of  a  great  work. 
Peter  followed  the  Master,  and  did  an  honourable 
service,  and  glorified  God,  at  its  ending,  by  a  death 
which  corresponded  with  his  life.  But  we  may  not 
forget  that  it  was  the  meditative  and  thoughtful 
disciple  —  the    one   whom    Jesus   loved,    and    who 

26 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

leaned  on  His  breast  at  the  supper — to  whom  the 
last  work  of  the  Apostoh'c  age  was  appointed.  After 
Peter  and  Paul  had  fulfilled  their  mission,  he  came 
to  finish  what  they  had  begun.  And  the  message 
which  he  sent  down  the  ages  is  the  most  precious 
inheritance  of  the  Church.  Peter  is  an  interesting 
character,  but  we  know  little  of  what  He  taught  or 
thought,  in  its  distinctive  peculiarities,  and  compar- 
atively little  of  what  he  did.  But  the  thoughts  of 
John  give  us  the  setting  forth  of  the  deepest 
mysteries  of  the  Christian  truth,  and  let  us  into  the 
innermost  secret  of  Christian  living,  and  open  before 
us  the  heart  of  God,  and  read  us  lessons  for  which 
the  thoughts  of  the  other  greatest  Apostles  are  only 
preparatory.  Our  vision  of  the  future  places,  as  all 
Christian  thinkers  hold,  the  Johannean  age  as  the 
final  one  in  Christian  development,  and  the  disciple 
of  love  as  greater  than  those  of  faith  and  of  hope. 

The  world  is  governed  more  by  men  of  thought 
than  by  men  of  action  —  when  we  take  the  great 
progress  of  the  ages  into  account  —  and  it  is  so 
peculiarly  in  Christian  history,  and  above  all  in 
Christian  experience. 

But  the  teaching  of  the  text,  in  this  line  of  thought, 
is  also  that,  according  to  the  true  Christian  esti- 
mate, what  seems  the  quiet,  calm  life,  away  from  the 
stir  and  strife  of  the  world  —  withdrawn,  perhaps  by 
necessity,  from  the  great  activities  of  mankind  —  is 
a  life  as  near,  or  even  nearer  it  may  be,  to  the  heart 
of  Christ,  than  the  one  which  is  most  conspicuous 
in  its  Christian  labours  seen  of  men.  It  was  the 
meditative,  loving  disciple,  whose  work  came  after 

27 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

the  struggles  and  conflicts  were  over  —  the  one 
whose  life  was  longest,  partly  no  doubt  because  he 
was  outside  of  the  tumult,  and  whose  death  was  so 
like  a  sleep,  —  it  was  this  disciple,  whom  the  Lord 
loved,  and  to  whom  He  committed  the  task  of  writ- 
ing the  story  of  His  own  Divine  life  among  men, 
which  should  bear  witness  most  fully  of  the  Divinity 
and  the  humanity  in  their  marvellous  union.  The 
believer  who  thinks  and  loves  stands  on  an  equality 
with  the  one  who  works  and  wars ;  Peter  and  John 
were  together  in  that  final  interview  recorded  in 
this  Gospel.  He  may  even  have  a  higher  standing ; 
as  John  was  living  after  Peter  and  Paul  had  passed 
away. 

We  may  also  observe,  in  connection  with  the 
thought  of  the  future  of  these  two  men  as  that  future 
is  hinted  at  in  these  verses,  the  importance  to  the 
Christian  work  in  the  world  of  the  union  of  the 
two  characters  within  the  Church.  The  work  of 
Christianity  is  to  bring  the  world  towards  the  per- 
fectness  of  God.  But  the  work  is  to  be  accomplished 
by  human  agencies  and  in  human  lives.  The  per- 
fectness  is  therefore  to  be  realised,  not  in  any  one 
individual,  but  rather  in  the  combining  together  of 
the  full  developments  in  all.  Each  man  is  to  mani- 
fest what  the  Divine  power  in  Christianity  can  do 
for  him.  Were  the  more  active  virtues  alone  to  be 
seen,  the  end  would  be  but  half  secured.  Were  they 
not  seen  at  all,  the  aggressive  force  upon  the  world 
would  be  mainly  lost.  But  God  has  joined  the  man 
of  energy  and  the  man  of  quiet  and  thoughtful  spirit, 
and  given  to  each  his  own  sphere  of  working  for 

28 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

Him  ;  —  and  if  they  follow  along  the  line  of  His 
appointment,  with  no  misunderstanding  of  each 
other,  the  result  is  reached  —  all  combining  for  the 
common  end,  even  as  the  writings  of  Peter  and  Paul, 
on  the  one  hand,  and  John  on  the  other,  have  made 
their  way  together  into  human  souls  everywhere, 
and  transformed  them  from  the  earthly  into  the 
heavenly  mode  of  living.  And  so  the  teaching  of 
these  words  is  that  those  who  believe  are  to  grow 
and  work  together,  but  not  after  precisely  the  same 
pattern,  or  in  the  same  way. 

I  think  we  may  fitly  notice,  once  more,  what  I 
may  call  the  incidental  character  of  the  words.  The 
meeting  of  Jesus  with  the  disciples  on  this  occasion 
seems  to  have  taken  place  almost  by  an  accident. 
They  had  come  together  for  an  ordinary  occupation, 
and  apparently  they  were  not  thinking  of  Him,  or 
of  His  possible  presence  with  them.  In  the  early 
morning,  as  they  were  in  the  disappointment  of  a 
failure  of  their  work,  He  stands  upon  the  shore,  and 
gradually,  and  in  a  peculiar  way.  He  makes  Himself 
known.  He  teaches  them  of  their  office  and  their 
dependence  upon  Himself,  and  perhaps  of  the  con- 
fidence which  they  may  have  in  His  aid  whenever 
they  put  forth  their  efforts  in  His  cause.  This  is 
what  comes  first  and  foremost.  Then  he  seems  to 
take  this  opportunity  —  because  it  chances  to  pre- 
sent itself —  to  call  Peter's  attention  to  his  three 
denials,  his  threefold  failure  in  love,  and  to  ask  him 
to  look  into  his  own  character.  But  the  object  is 
not  self-examination,    but  forgiveness;  and    so    He 

29 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

restores  him  fully  to  his  office,  committing  to  him 
once  more  the  care  of  the  flock,  and  bidding  him 
feed  and  tend  and  shepherd  all  the  sheep.  Direct- 
ing his  thought  in  this  way  to  his  work  and  duty, 
He  easily  and  naturally  speaks  of  what  was  awaiting 
him  in  the  future,  and  of  the  death  which  should 
terminate  his  career.  The  allusion  to  the  future  and 
the  death  of  John  was  even  more  accidental,  as  it 
were  —  occasioned  simply  by  the  fact  of  his  happen- 
ing to  move  along  the  path  by  which  Jesus  was 
walking  with  Peter,  and  then  by  the  chance  question 
suggested  to  Peter's  mind  by  what  he  had  heard 
respecting  himself.  How  prominent  the  thought  of 
the  ending  is  as  we  look  at  the  close  of  the  chapter. 
How  secondary  and  subordinate,  as  we  move  towards 
it  from  the  begiiuiing. 

Is  it  not  so  with  the  ending  of  every  hfe?  In  our 
ordinary  thinking  of  this  ending,  it  seems  like  the 
one  great  event,  which  gathers  about  itself  all 
solemnity,  and  seems  to  include  within  itself  the  sum 
of  all  the  past  and  all  the  future.  But  when  we  move 
forward  in  our  thought  from  the  beginning  and 
through  the  life,  it  becomes  an  incidental  thing  —  the 
natural  ending  of  the  life  whatever  it  may  be  ;  —  the 
subordinate,  not  the  principal  event  —  subordinate 
to  duty  and  service  and  character,  which  are  the 
principal  things ;  —  the  passage-way  from  a  living  in 
one  sphere  of  activity  to  a  living  in  another.  And, 
in  this  view  of  it,  does  not  the  question  which  was 
addressed  to  Peter  respecting  his  fellow- apostle  come 
with  a  Divine  emphasis,  and  a  Divine  tenderness,  to 
each  one  of  us  with  reference  to  himself:  What  is 

30 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

it  to  thee?  We  enter  upon  the  duties  and  struggles 
of  our  coming  Hfe  —  and  the  call  from  the  Master  is, 
Follow  me.  We  know  not  the  end,  but  it  will  be 
the  end  of  service  to  Him  here,  and  the  opening 
of  something  higher  and  better  than  earth. 

The  writer  of  the  Gospel  closes  the  chapter  in 
which  this  story  of  the  two  disciples  is  found  with  the 
words :  And  there  are  also  many  other  things  which 
Jesus  did,  the  which  if  they  should  be  written  every 
one,  I  suppose  that  even  the  world  itself  would  not 
contain  the  books  that  should  be  written.  We  may 
often  wish  that  the  words  which  He  said  might  have 
been  all  preserved  to  us.  But  those  which  we  have 
received  are  full  of  suggestion,  and  the  thoughts  of 
Jesus  grow  in  their  greatness  and  power  within  our 
hearts  until  they  more  than  fill  all  the  sphere  of  our 
living.  The  one  word :  Follow  me,  fills  all  the 
sphere  of  duty ;  and  the  one  word :  What  is  it  to 
thee?  commits  the  future  to  His  keeping,  and  thus 
may  give  to  us,  each  and  every  one,  a  perfect  peace. 


31 


Ill 

THOU  SHALT  KNOW  HEREAFTER 

Jesics  ansiLiered  and  said  unto  him,  What  I  do  thou  knowest 
not  now  J  but  thou  shalt  understand  hereafter'. 

John  xiii.  7. 

THESE  words,  as  we  read  them  in  the  connec- 
tion of  the  verses,  have  reference  to  the  par- 
ticular act  of  Jesus  which  is  here  recorded.  They 
assure  the  disciple  to  whom  they  are  addressed  that 
the  meaning  of  what  had  just  been  done,  though  not 
recognised  by  him  at  the  moment,  would  be  unfolded 
at  a  later  time,  and  they  thus  suggest  to  him  that 
he  should  accept  willingly  and  trustfully  the  service 
which  was  offered,  and  should  be  content  to  wait 
until  the  time  of  revelation  should  arrive.  In  them- 
selves, however,  and  apart  from  the  limitations  of  the 
passage  and  the  occasion,  they  involve,  as  we  may 
say,  a  great  principle  and  law  of  our  human  life. 
They  set  forth  before  us  the  divine  method  of  pre- 
paring the  soul  for  its  future,  in  one  striking  aspect 
of  it.  They  read  us  a  lesson  which  life  itself  enforces 
and  emphasises  as  it  passes  on  in  its  course.  It  is 
in  this  latter  view  of  the  words  especially  —  and  yet 
not  without  considering  the  former  view  also  — that 
I  would  ask  for  thought  and  attention  at  this  time. 
There  are  two  leading  suggestions  which  I  would 
mention  as  connected  with  the  words. 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

The  first  suggestion  which  the  words  bring  to  us, 
I  think,-  is  that  of  the  Christian  idea  of  Hfe.  It  re- 
quires but  a  small  and  brief  experience  to  lead  any 
reflecting  man  to  the  knowledge  and  conviction  that 
much  of  what  befalls  him  is  be}'ond  his  present 
understanding.  The  child's  question,  Why,  is  one 
which  arises  in  this  regard,  as  it  does  in  others,  very 
early  in  the  child's  thinking  as  to  himself  It  is  a 
question  which  returns  as  the  deeper  thoughts  of 
later  years  impress  the  soul,  more  and  more,  with 
the  mystery  of  its  movement  along  the  line  of  its 
development,  and  the  equal  mystery  of  its  surround- 
ings. The  wonder  of  our  being  —  what  life  means; 
what  it  is  and  is  to  be ;  what  are  the  design,  if 
there  be  design,  and  the  significance  of  the  many 
strange  things  that  enter  into  it,  or  perchance  destroy 
it  —  becomes  greater,  the  longer  we  study  the 
matter.  It  reaches  out  into  the  wonderful  to  a 
longer  distance,  and  to  an  obscurity  which  seems 
more  impenetrable,  as  we  come  nearer  to  the  end  of 
what  we  think  of  as  the  allotted  period  of  our  living; 
so  that  the  man  of  sixty  or  seventy  questions,  and 
meditates,  and  tries  in  vain  to  answer,  many  times 
and  in  many  places,  where,  at  twenty  or  thirty,  he 
had  not  yet  entered  into  the  mystery,  or  had  lost 
thought  of  it  in  the  eagerness  of  his  action  or  his 
hope.  Thou  knowest  not  now,  is  a  truth  which  we 
all  learn  from  the  beginning  onward,  whenever  we 
turn  our  thoughts  inward  upon  ourselves,  and  then 
look  out  from  within  upon  the  future  and  its  relations 
to  the  past  and  the  present. 

But  the  Christian  idea  goes  beyond  this.     It  does 
3  II 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

not,  indeed,  reveal  all  things,  and  thus  remove  the 
mysteries  in  the  midst  of  which  we  are.  This  it 
could  not  do,  by  reason  of  the  limitations  of  our 
vision.  But  it  opens  life  to  us  as  an  education  for 
a  future  that  follows  it,  and  thus  gives  us  the  promise 
which  belongs  to  all  education  —  that  what  is  not 
known  to-day  will  be  known  hereafter — that  the 
steps  forward  which  we  take  are  steps  bearing  us 
into  the  light,  and  so  we  have  only  to  wait  a  little,  or 
to  wait  until  the  end,  and  the  pathway  which  was 
dark  before  us  will  be  clear  and  plain  behind  us,  — 
and  not  simply  plain  in  itself,  but  clear  in  its  leading 
to  the  end. 

There  is  nothing  more  essentially  connected  with 
education  than  this  fact  or  law,  of  which  we  speak. 
The  beginner  in  any  line  of  study  or  of  art,  as  we 
may  all  know  by  our  own  experience,  must  have 
rules,  and  details,  and  imperfect  and  separate  parts 
placed  before  him.  He  must  occupy  himself  with 
these,  and  move  in  all  his  mental  activity  within 
their  sphere ;  and  make  them,  as  it  were,  to  be  of 
his  intellectual  life  and  force,  long  before  he  can 
appreciate  their  full  bearing  upon  the  result  which 
he  proposes  to  accomplish.  The  work  may  often- 
times look  forbidding  and  meaningless,  as  it  is  as- 
signed to  him  to  do,  and  he  may  be  often  ready  to 
turn  aside  from  it  as  of  no  profit,  or  as  never  lead- 
ing to  anything  of  worth.  He  cannot  see  far  enough 
to  understand  what  will  come.  But  he  must  never- 
theless hold  firmly  to  the  task,  if  he  would  not  fail ; 
—  and  if  he  does  so,  after  a  season  the  separated 
things  will  begin  to  come  together,  and  take  their 

34 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

places  in  what  is  greater  and  wider  than  themselves. 
They  will  combine  with  each  other,  and  form  a 
whole  which  in  its  turn,  and  when  it  has  served  its 
separate  purpose,  will  unite  with  something  else, 
formed  perhaps  after  the  same  manner,  and  thus 
will  grow  ever  towards  the  end  of  perfect  knowl- 
edge. This  is  the  way  in  which  the  mind  always 
works. 

But  it  works  hy  the  force  of  a  promise.  The 
teacher  does  not  say  to  the  child,  simply  or  as  the 
chief  thing:  You  do  not  know  the  purpose  and 
meaning  of  what  I  do,  when  I  set  your  mind  upon 
the  rudimentary  details,  and  call  you  to  the  learn- 
ing of  rules  or  the  drawing  of  lines.  This  also  is 
not  what  we  say  to  ourselves  when,  in  later  years, 
of  our  own  choice  we  begin  for  ourselves  some  new 
study,  which  may  seem  harder  to  us  even  than  did 
the  studies  of  our  childhood.  The  word  which  we 
address  to  our  own  minds,  and  which  the  teacher 
utters  to  his  young  pupil,  is  a  word  of  assurance: 
You  will  understand  by  and  by.  There  is  no  im- 
pulse or  moving  power  in  the  former  word.  It  is, 
moreover,  understood  well  enough,  and  sadly  enough, 
by  each  one  for  himself,  without  the  utterance  of 
it.  But  in  this  word  there  is  hope  and  encourage- 
ment. In  it  is  mental  life.  The  faith  in  the  future 
becomes  the  evidence  of  the  things  not  yet  seen, 
and  the  mind  moves  forward  under  the  inspiration 
of  the  thought  that  the  faith  will  be,  at  some  time, 
changed  into  realisation. 

The  same  thing  is  true  with  relation  to  character. 
The   child,  in  the  formative  period,   is  necessarily 

35 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

subjected  to  laws  of  conduct  and  of  thought,  the 
significance  of  which  he  does  not  comprehend. 
They  may  seem  to  his  mind  to  be  merely  arbitrary, 
and  to  bear  upon  nothing  that  is  really  good.  And 
not  only  is  it  so  with  the  child.  We  all,  as  we  pass 
on  to  the  years  of  self-control  and  self-government, 
find  ourselves  limited  in  a  similar  way.  So  long  as 
we  think  only  of  the  present  and  of  the  life  which 
belongs  wholly  to  it,  the  meaning  of  the  rules  which 
we  obey  is  often  lost  to  us  —  and  men  about  us  we 
see  continually  so  losing  it,  that  they  ruin  them- 
selves by  their  neglect  and  want  of  understanding. 
But  when  character  is  looked  at  from  the  point  of 
view  where  we  regard  it  as  developing  for  the  future 
—  its  growth  an  educational  process,  and  its  value 
to  be  seen  in  the  manhood  which  is  secured  —  a 
new  light  shines  for  us.  There  may  be  still  no  ad- 
equate apprehension  of  what  the  disciplinary  rules 
and  duties  mean;  but  the  great  fact  that  they  point 
forward,  and  draw  a  life-power  from  what  is  beyond 
themselves,  brings  into  them  the  element  of  prophecy 
and  promise.  We  can  now  say  to  those  to  whom 
we  would  give  our  friendly  help,  or  to  our  own 
souls  in  the  working  of  their  inner  life:  Give  obedi- 
ence at  the  beginning,  though  you  do  not  yet  under- 
stand. The  rules  will  turn  into  spontaneous  action, 
after  a  season,  and  will  find  the  explanation  which 
you  ask  for  now,  but  are  unable  to  discover,  in  the 
living  forces  of  a  strong  and  noble  character. 
"  Hereafter  "  is  the  great  word  of  the  mental  and 
spiritual  life.  It  is  the  characteristic  word,  as  we 
may  say,  of  such  life,  when  viewed  as  having  in 

36 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

itself  the  element  of  growth,  and  as  being,  in  its 
early  stages,  a  preparation  for  what  is  later.  The 
growing  mind  and  soul  cannot,  from  the  nature  of 
the  case,  apprehend  to-day,  in  its  fulness,  what  may 
be  apprehended  in  some  to-morrow,  when  there  is  a 
larger  development.  But  if  there  is  an  education  in 
each  to-day  for  each  to-morrow,  and  always  for  the 
distant  to-morrow,  then  the  unknown  of  the  present 
seems  to  borrow  from  the  knowledge  of  the  future 
an  influence  and  vital  power,  which  bear  the  man 
forward  intelligently  and  with  confidence. 

The  Christian  doctrine  lays  hold,  as  it  were,  upon 
this  thought,  and  makes  life  an  educational  period 
preparatory  to  something  greater  than  itself,  yet  like 
itself.  It  conceives  of  the  whole  of  the  earthly  life 
as  having  a  relation  to  the  eternal  future,  similar  to 
that  which  the  earlier  part  of  the  earthly  life  bears 
to  the  later  part.  Life,  according  to  its  idea  of  it,  is 
one  thing  —  one  great  and  long  development  —  one 
grand  movement  from  the  beginning  —  never  ceas- 
ing, ever  growing  in  its  power  and  in  its  progress. 
To-day  is  for  to-morrow ;  to-morrow  for  the  next 
to-morrow ;  the  next  for  still  another ;  and  all  for  a 
time  which  is  beyond  the  boundaries  of  our  earthly 
planning  or  thinking  —  the  time  of  perfected  char- 
acter in  heaven. 

In  a  peculiar  sense  and  measure,  therefore,  does 
it  emphasise  the  "  hereafter  "  of  the  text,  and  take 
into  itself,  as  what  must  characterise  its  whole  con- 
ception of  our  human  living,  this  fact: — that  the 
future  Is  to  understand  the  present,  while  the  pres- 
ent does  not,  and  often  cannot,  understand  itself. 

37 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

If  we  are  born  for  an  eternal  existence  —  if  the  few 
years  which  we  pass  here  are  but  the  beginning  of 
an  endless  future,  and  as  if  the  early  childhood  of  an 
ever-enduring  manhood  —  surely  we  cannot  expect 
to  discover,  in  the  days  as  they  pass,  the  meaning 
of  what  meets  us  and  bears  upon  our  souls  in  these 
days.  But  as  siirely  may  we  expect  with  confidence 
to  find  it  afterwards.  Life  is  education,  all  of  it. 
Its  significance  is  in  the  results  of  its  growth.  Its 
reality  is  its  future.  Its  time  of  realization  is  when 
it  can  give,  by  reason  of  its  progress,  a  look  back- 
ward. And  the  more  distant  that  time  is,  accord- 
ing to  the  true  view  of  life,  the  more  completely  must 
this  law  of  education  manifest  itself  as  the  control- 
ling, all-pervading  law. 

It  is  of  the  necessity  of  the  Christian  idea  of  life, 
that  it  bears  this  thought,  of  which  we  are  speaking, 
with  itself.  But  there  is  more  in  the  Christian 
doctrine  than  this  which  has  been  mentioned.  Life 
according  to  its  view  is  not  only  the  educational 
time,  with  all  which  this  involves  as  bearing  upon 
our  present  thought.  There  is  something  additional 
to  this.  The  education  is  under  the  guidance  of  a 
Divine  teacher,  whose  plan  takes  into  itself  all  things 
from  the  beginning  onward  to  the  remotest  future  — 
a  teacher  also  who  is  full  of  wisdom,  and  full  of 
love.  The  mind  which  is  moving  forward  through 
the  years  with  limited  powers  is,  therefore,  under 
the  direction  and  leadership  of  a  mind  which  is 
unlimited.  The  limited  mind  may  not  know  indeed, 
in  the  midst  of  the  present   experience,    what  the 

38 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

teacher  means  or  docs,  but  there  is  no  darkness  or 
misapprehension  in  the  unHmited  mind.  Jesus  said 
to  Peter:  What  I  do  tJioii  knowest  not  now.  He 
does  not  say:  /know  not  now.  On  the  contrary, 
His  words  carry  in  them  the  suggestion  and  assur- 
ance that  He  had  this  knowledge,  and  that  He  saw 
the  end  from  the  beginning.  If  so,  what  must  the 
declaration  have  involved  to  the  disciple's  mind  as, 
after  the  surprise  and  bewilderment  of  that  sorrow- 
ful evening  had  passed,  he  thought  of  it  in  the  light 
of  all  that  he  had  learned  of  Jesus.  He  must  have 
seen  in  it  the  promise  of  an  all-seeing  Friend,  who 
was  watching  over  and  carrying  forward  the  plan  of 
his  personal  life. 

This  word  was  spoken,  we  must  remember,  at  the 
end,  not  at  the  beginning,  of  the  three  years  of  their 
life  together.  It  was  spoken  at  a  time  when  the 
wonder  of  the  great  Teacher's  wisdom,  and  of  His 
insight  into  the  soul  and  its  life,  and  of  His  clear 
vision  of  the  future,  and  of  the  working  of  the  pres- 
ent for  it  and  towards  it,  and  of  His  love  for  His 
friends,  had  long  been  manifesting  itself,  and  with 
ever-increasing  impressiveness.  It  was  spoken  thus 
when  the  full  light  of  Jesus'  life  was  breaking  in 
upon  the  mind  of  the  disciple.  It  must  have  meant, 
therefore,  to  Peter's  thought,  that  the  progress  and 
growth  of  his  own  life  were,  and  were  to  be,  a  true 
education  for  the  great  future  —  with  all  the  natural 
movements,  and  all  the  privileges,  and  all  the 
promise,  which  such  education,  when  under  the 
wisest  and  most  loving  teacher,  can  know  as  belong- 
ing to  itself. 

39 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

And  what  is  this  privilege  and  this  promise  in  its 
highest  form,  but  the  certainty,  that,  as  the  man 
goes  forward  out  of  the  present,  where  he  knows  not 
the  meaning  and  deepest  reaHty  of  that  which  he 
experiences,  he  will  pass  into  a  future  of  under- 
standing—  a  future,  not  immediate  perchance,  but 
sure  and  blessed  in  its  coming.  The  want  of 
knowledge  in  the  present,  therefore,  has  in  it  no 
intimation  of  continued  want.  It  cannot  have  such 
an  intimation,  when  the  word  of  Jesus  is  spoken. 
The  darkness  is  not  the  deep  darkness  of  the  night 
season,  in  which  there  is  no  prophecy  or  hope.  It 
is  that  which  precedes  the  dawn  of  the  morning,  and 
into  which  the  illumination  of  the  approaching  day 
seems  to  penetrate  as  each  moment,  in  its  passing, 
brings  on  the  promised  time. 

The  Christian  doctrine  is  blessing  everywhere. 
The  gospel,  in  every  aspect  of  it,  is  indeed  good 
tidings.  It  lays  hold  upon  life,  in  all  its  parts  and 
possibilities,  and  shows  it  to  be  full  of  the  goodness 
and  the  gifts  of  God.  It  glorifies  life  everywhere,  by 
making  manifest  its  relation  to  the  future,  and  re- 
vealing the  truth  that,  once  begun,  it  never  ends, 
but  grows  under  the  loving  Teacher's  and  Father's 
care  continually,  ever  attaining  new  and  larger 
knowledge,  greater  and  more  ennobling  virtue. 
And  so  here,  it  enters  with  its  glorifying  power  into 
the  limitations  of  our  seeing  and  our  knowing;  and 
by  telling  us  that  our  life  is  education,  and  telling 
us  also  who  is  the  teacher,  it  seems  almost  to  remove 
the  limitations  themselves  by  its  assurance  and  the 
prospect  which  it  opens.     The  childhood  which  is 

40 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

growing  up  under  the  unerring  care  and  guidance 
of  the  loving  Divine  Teacher  may  be  fettered  in  its 
understanding  and  apprehension,  because  it  is  still 
childhood.  But  the  light  is  before  it,  and  it  may- 
move  onward  hopefully,  for  the  preparation  to  which 
it  is  called  is  a  preparation  for  manhood  —  a  man- 
hood in  which  the  past  and  the  present  will  alike  be 
full  of  brightness,  and  reality,  and  deepest  and 
divinest  meaning.  Not  now  indeed,  but  hereafter. 
Yet  the  hereafter  abides,  while  the  now  passes  away 

—  and  the  blessing  is  ever  with  that  which  abides. 

We  may  now  turn  to  the  second  and  remaining 
suggestion  which  the  words  bring  to  us  at  this  time 

—  that  of  the  wonderful  and  beautiful  way  in  which, 
as  these  words  show  us,  our  lives  are  made  to  move 
forward  in  this  education,  and  by  the  Divine  Teacher. 
The  plan  develops  itself  in  great  wisdom,  as  we  our- 
selves are  brought  to  understand  it. 

Sometimes,  as  in  the  case  of  Peter  when  the 
words  were  first  spoken,  the  unfolding  of  the  mean- 
ing is  given,  partially  or  wholly,  in  the  immediate 
future.  Many  have  thought  that  it  was  given 
wholly  to  this  disciple  in  the  words  which  were 
added  a  few  moments  later.  The  washing  of  the 
disciples'  feet  was  designed  to  teach  the  lesson  of 
humility  and  service.  If  this  was  the  fact  in  this 
particular  case,  it  illustrates  much  that  comes  within 
the  experience  of  every  believer.  How  many  times 
the  thoughtful  man  finds  himself  suddenly  arrested 
in  his  career  for  a  moment,  as  Peter  was,  by  what 
seems  a  strange  thing,  perhaps  a  small  one,  afifect- 

41 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

ing  himself.  He  knows  not  what  it  means.  But 
it  sets  him  upon  thinking.  The  very  strangeness 
of  it  makes  him  thoughtful  of  its  bearing  upon  his 
character  and  inward  Hfe;  and  even  as  he  medi- 
tates upon  what  it  may  possibly  have  to  teach  him, 
the  light  shines  clearly,  and  the  lesson  is  read  in 
the  light.  He  is  ever  afterwards,  if  he  faithfully 
learns  the  lesson,  more  of  a  true  man  in  one  part 
of  his  living  —  it  may  be,  a  limited  and  narrow 
one,  but  yet  one  part  —  than  he  was  before.  Peter 
knew  more  of  what  this  lesson  of  humility  and 
service  would  teach,  at  the  end  of  that  memorable 
evening,  than  he  did  at  the  beginning  of  it;  and  we 
may  well  believe  that  the  knowledge  never  failed 
him.  Thus  it  is  with  all  true  men.  There  are 
persons  in  every  Christian  company  —  younger  and 
older  alike  —  who  have  realised  such  sudden  for- 
ward-movements in  their  own  history,  when  some 
unexpected  thought  or  event  has  affected  the  life, 
because  it  brought  with  itself  a  teaching  imperfectly 
understood,  or  perhaps  wholly  unknown  before. 
Character  starts  into  new  and  higher  development 
from  such  starting-points,  and  the  man  gains  strength 
for  the  future  from  the  revelation  that  quickly  follows 
a  thing  which,  in  itself,  was  at  the  most  the  wonder 
of  a  moment. 

But  the  meaning  of  Jesus'  words,  as  addressed 
to  Peter,  according  to  the  view  of  many  others  — 
and  not  improbably  their  view  is  correct  —  was 
not  exhausted  in  the  simple  application  which  He 
then  gave  them.  There  may  have  been  a  deeper 
and  more  far-reaching  significance,  which  was  to  be 

42 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

unfolded  to  the  disciple  by  the  events  which  fol- 
lowed that  evening,  and  by  the  later  experiences 
of  the  subsequent  years.  And  if  this  be  so,  how 
truly,  again,  it  answers  to  Christian  history  every- 
where. The  strange,  surprising  thing,  which  hap- 
pened at  a  certain  moment,  and  which  seemed  to 
find  some  explanation  of  its  meaning  soon  after- 
ward, proves  to  have  a  deeper  significance  than 
was  believed.  Time  and  experience  show  that  it 
has  a  wider  teaching,  and  that  it  enters,  by  its 
lessons,  into  the  individual  character  at  new  points. 
The  voice  which  it  utters  speaks  after  it  was  sup- 
posed to  have  given  its  full  message,  and  it  is 
heard  in  some  other  region  of  the  soul's  living. 
The  first  thought  dies  away  apparently,  it  may  be, 
when  it  has  imparted  its  quickening  influence  to 
the  mind.  But  it  becomes,  in  fact,  the  origin  of 
new  suggestions,  and  new  quickening  power,  until 
the  whole  character  of  the  man  may  be  set  forward. 
A  striking  peculiarity  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 
which  cannot  fail  to  be  noticed  by  every  careful 
student  of  the  Gospels,  is  the  suggestion  of  such 
seed-thoughts,  as  we  may  call  them.  He  said  what 
was  above  the  present  understanding  of  those  who 
heard  Him,  or  what  had  wide-reaching  application 
beyond  the  teaching  or  the  circumstances  of  the 
hour.  Nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  Him  than 
this,  as  He  appears  before  us  in  His  conversations 
with  thinking  men,  or  with  His  twelve  disciples, 
which  are  recorded  in  the  Fourth  Gospel.  He 
taught  and  spoke  thus,  because  His  teaching  was 
life-teaching y  not  that  of  the  philosophers  and  the 

43 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

doctors.  Life-teaching,  such  as  His,  is  always  sug- 
gestive. It  is  always  intended  to  plant  itself  in  the 
soul  as  a  power,  and  to  reveal  its  vivifying  force 
whenever  and  wherever  it  may.  Hence  it  is  ever 
creative,  and  always  a  blessing.  Hence  also,  it 
always  carries  within  itself  the  promise  of  the  here- 
after —  a  hereafter  which  may  begin  with  a  first 
explanation  in  a  moment  or  an  hour,  but  which 
may  become  richer  in  its  gifts  of  understanding 
for  years,  or  even  beyond  the  counting  of  years. 

What  an  emphasis  must  have  been  given  to  the 
teaching  of  service  and  humility  in  the  mind  of 
Peter  as  he  carried  the  remembrance  of  this  act  of 
the  Divine  Friend  through  his  after  life.  How 
much,  and  how  many  things,  it  must  have  opened 
to  him,  as  he  told  the  story  of  the  Master  to  the 
churches  which  he  established,  and  as  he  found 
the  greatness  and  honour  of  his  apostolic  office  to 
be  in  the  sphere  of  humble  service  to  the  brother- 
hood. Thus  it  was  with  the  other  disciples.  John's 
character,  which  was  so  rich  and  beautiful  that  it 
has  challenged  the  world's  admiration,  was,  as  we 
may  not  doubt,  the  growth  out  of  such  seed- 
thoughts.  The  richness  of  his  inner  life  was  the  re- 
sult of  what  Jesus  had  done  and  said,  as  this  worked 
its  way  into  the  recesses  of  the  soul  with  a  con- 
stantly new  manifestation  of  that  which  was  hidden 
within  itself  at  the  first.  And  this  is  the  beautiful 
thing  in  the  growth  of  all  purest  life.  We  are 
placed  by  the  Divine  teacher  in  a  school  of  thought 
and  character,  as  it  were.  We  are  assured  that  our 
life  is  to  be  an  education,  pointing  by  the  necessity 

44 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

which  pertains  to  it  as  such,  to  the  future,  and  then 
we  are  left  to  the  influence  of  the  events,  and  the 
teachings,  and  the  thoughts,  which  may  be  sent 
to  us  by  the  Master's  will.  Each  one  of  these 
may  become  a  seed  for  growth.  Each  one  of  them 
may  be  taken  by  us  into  our  inmost  souls,  and  may 
abide  there  as  a  force  for  the  developing  and  per- 
fecting of  character.  They  may  be  forgotten  for  a 
while,  or  may  seem  to  have  finished  their  work  for 
us.  But  they  remain  with  perpetual  life ;  and,  like 
the  half-forgotten  knowledge  or  study  of  the  past, 
they  waken  again  for  new  influence  and  new  uses 
when,  in  some  unexpected  hour,  the  soul's  experi- 
ence or  need  moves  near  them.  And  when  they 
are  thus  awakened,  the  understanding  of  what  they 
are,  and  what  they  have  in  themselves,  becomes 
more  complete ;  and  the  hereafter  stands  in  yet 
more  glorious  contrast  to  the  now  of  the  beginning. 

The  thought  of  a  verse  like  this  is  often  under- 
stood as  applying  exclusively  to  the  sorrowful 
things  of  life.  But  that  to  which  Jesus  here  applied 
the  words  was  no  sorrowful  thing.  It  was  loving 
service.  It  was  humility,  one  of  the  sweetest  of  all 
the  virtues.  Jesus  was  teaching  lessons  of  char- 
acter. He  was,  in  all  His  words,  giving  the  Divine 
idea  of  life.  He  was  telling  how  the  soul  grows 
through  the  promise  of  the  future  —  the  assurance 
of  knowing  hereafter  what  it  does  not  now  know  — 
and  not  only  this,  but  of  knowing  the  meaning  of 
what  now  comes  within  its  vision,  or  its  experience, 
with  a  depth  of  knowledge  which  passes  far  beyond 

45 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

our  present  understanding.  This  is  the  way  in 
which  we  are  educated,  according  to  the  Christian 
method,  and  the  Christian  conception  of  hfe  as  an 
education.  It  is  a  wonderful  way  of  growing  indeed, 
and  a  beautiful  one.  Nothing  can  be  thought  of 
that  is  better  or  happier  —  a  way  in  which  all  our 
experiences,  and  all  that  is  done  with  us,  or  for  us, 
by  the  Divine  Teacher  and  Father  may  become 
more  and  more  suggestive  of  the  thought  and  feel- 
ing which  strengthen  character,  and  more  and  more 
full  of  meaning  and  of  light,  as  the  years  move  for- 
ward in  their  course.  All  things  must  work  together 
for  good  for  those  who  are  in  such  an  education  for 
a  perfected  life  in  the  future. 

But  one  of  the  chief  wonders  of  this  wonderful 
process  is  seen  in  connection  with  the  sorrowful 
things.  In  these  things,  some  of  the  greatest  forces 
for  the  building  of  lofty  character  are  found.  They 
tell  the  soul  more  of  its  deepest  emotion,  and  its 
richest  life,  than  the  joyful  things  do;  for  truth,  as 
it  bears  on  the  soul's  growth,  lies  very  near  to 
tender  feeling,  and  to  that  sense  of  dependence 
which  comes  with  loss  or  trial.  But  the  sorrowful 
things,  like  the  joyful  ones,  point  to  the  revelation 
of  the  hereafter,  and  when  they  are  taken  into  the 
soul's  thinking  and  its  learning,  they  work  towards 
the  light.  Nothing  is  more  true  in  Christian  ex- 
perience than  this.  The  man  who,  as  the  years 
have  passed,  finds  himself  already  having  attained 
to  some  large  measure  of  true  manhood,  will  always 
bear  witness,  that  in  these  things  was  the  largest 
influence  which  worked  to   the  realisation  of  the 

46 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

end ;  and  the  testimony  will  also  be,  that,  in  this 
way  and  for  this  reason,  the  sorrowful  things 
became  joyful  ones  in  their  result,  and  for  the 
hereafter. 

Thus  as  we  leave  our  meditation  at  this  time  on 
these  words  of  Jesus  let  us  carry  in  our  remem- 
brance what  they  reveal  of  the  Christian  idea  of 
life  and  of  the  promise  of  the  ever-opening  future, 
and  let  us  place  ourselves  under  the  guiding  wis- 
dom of  the  loving  Teacher,  who  always  repeats  to 
each  one  of  us,  in  our  limitations  and  our  imperfect 
present  knowledge :  "  What  I  do  thou  knowest  not 
now,  indeed,  but  thou  shalt  understand  hereafter." 


47 


IV 
WHAT   GOOD   THING   SHALL   I   DO 

And  behold  one  came  to  hifn  and  said,  Master,  what  good 
thing  shall  I  do,  that  I  may  have  eternal  life?  Aftd  he 
said  tento  hitn.  Why  askest  thou  7)ie  concerning  that  which 
is  good?  One  there  is  who  is  good:  but  if  tho7i  wouldest 
enter  into  life,  keep  the  commandme^its.  He  saith  7into  him, 
Which  ?  A  nd  Jesus  said,  Thoti  shalt  not  kill.  Thou  shalt 
not  comtnit  adultery.  Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not 
bear  false  witness.  Honour  thy  father  and  thy  mother  :  and, 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself  The  young  man 
saith  unto  hifn.  All  these  things  have  I  observed :  what 
lack  I  yet  f  Jesus  said  unto  him,  If  thou  wouldest  be  per- 
fect, go,  sell  that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou 
shalt  have  treasure  in  heaven  :  and  come,  follow  me.  But 
when  the  young  man  heard  that  saying,  he  went  away 
sorrowful  J  for  he  was  one  that  had  great  possessions. 

Matthew  xix.  16-22. 

THE  person  who  is  represented  in  this  brief  story 
as  coming  to  Jesus  is  brought  before  us  in  a 
very  interesting  hght.  He  is  a  young  man  of  high 
position,  —  Luke  speaks  of  him  as  a  ruler,  —  and  of 
lovable  character.  He  is  one  who  has  evidently 
studied  the  questions  which  most  deeply  concern 
us  as  men ;  the  questions  relating  to  the  true  life  of 
the  soul.  He  believes  in  the  good,  and  naturally 
turns  to  one  in  whom  he  has  seen  the  evidence  of 
genuine    goodness,    or   of  whom    he    has  heard  as 

48 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

teaching  the  way  to  attain  it.  He  is  honestly  try- 
ing, and  has  been  trying  in  the  past,  to  lay  hold 
upon  the  blessing  according  to  the  rules  which 
have  been  set  before  him.  He  has  meant  to  do 
right,  as  he  thinks,  and  thus  to  be  right.  He  has, 
in  one  sense  at  least,  observed  and  kept  the  com- 
mands of  the  Divine  law,  as  revealed  to  his  mind. 
But  with  all  his  doing  and  effort,  he  has  not  found 
inward  peace.  The  assurance  of  the  life  eternal, 
which  he  seeks,  has  eluded  his  seeking.  The 
question  of  all  significance  is  not  yet  answered. 

Jesus  often,  in  His  ministry,  met  with  doubters 
and  enemies.  He  was  compelled  to  set  His  truth 
before  those  whom  He  knew  were  unwilling  to 
receive  Him,  and  to  subdue  within  them  a  strong 
opposition,  before  He  could  secure  them  for  Him- 
self. But  here  was  no  sceptic,  and  no  open  adver- 
sary. Here  was  a  man  who  was  so  hopeful  of 
finding  in  Him  something  to  help  and  satisfy  his 
soul  that,  as  one  of  the  evangelists  tells  us,  he  ran 
towards  Him  with  all  eagerness  as  He  was  going 
forth  on  His  journey.  He  would  lay  before  the 
new  Teacher  the  want  and  difficulty  which  he  felt, 
and  would  trust  that,  perad venture,  a  light  would 
come  from  the  words  that  should  be  uttered,  which 
would  guide  him  safely  to  the  desired  end.  Such, 
I  think,  may  be  regarded  as  his  real  position.  He 
was,  as  one  has  said,  an  honest,  though  erroneous, 
seeker  after  truth  and  life. 

His  education,  however,  had  been  under  the 
Pharisaic  influences  of  the  time,  and  while  he 
seems  to  have  realised  that  there  was  something 
4  49 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

beyond  the  mere  perfunctory  righteousness  which 
many  of  these  teachers  taught,  he  still  centred  his 
thoughts,  as  they  did,  upon  doing,  rather  than  being. 
The  gift  of  eternal  life,  to  his  mind,  was  to  be  the 
reward  for  the  doing  of  some  good  thing;  and  as 
he  did  not  seem  to  have  attained  it  as  yet,  or  the 
sure  hope  of  it,  as  the  result  of  what  he  had  already 
done,  he  would  learn,  if  possible,  what  the  thing, 
till  now  unknown,  was,  which,  being  done,  should 
carry  within  itself  the  rich  promise  of  the  future. 
"  What  good  thing  shall  I  do?"  was  his  question. 
The  good  things  to  which  I  have  devoted  myself  in 
the  past  have  not  proved  sufficient.  What  is  it  that 
remains?  Tell  me  where  I  shall  find  it,  and  the 
doing  on  my  part  shall  be  ready,  in  order  that  the 
happiness  may  follow. 

The  sincerity  of  the  young  man's  spirit,  and  the 
rectitude  and  innocence,  as  men  call  it,  of  his  life, 
were  such  that  Jesus  loved  him,  as  the  truest  souls 
love  all  that  is  beautiful  in  character,  even  though 
the  divinest  beauty  is  not  in  it.  But  while  He  was 
thus  moved  towards  affection  for  him,  He  saw  that 
the  essence  of  true  living  was  not  to  be  found  in 
him,  because  he  rested  in  the  doing,  and  his  thoughts 
did  not  go  out  beyond  it,  or  into  the  deeper  life 
within. 

There  are  lovable  and  yet  restless  souls  every- 
where, I  am  sure,  whose  position  in  this  regard  is 
like  that  of  the  young  ruler.  They  have  seen  the 
right,  and  in  a  sense  desired  it.  They  have  set  be- 
fore themselves  the  eternal  life  as  the  great  thing  to 
be  secured  at  the  end,  and  have  always  felt   that, 

50 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

without  the  attainment  of  this  reward,  the  life  here 
will  prove  to  be  a  hopeless  failure.  They  have,  as 
they  thought,  sincerely  endeavoured  to  do  the  duties 
of  life,  and  thus  to  make  the  end  their  own.  But 
they  have  limited  their  thought  and  energy  to  the 
sphere  of  action  only,  and  have  lost  sight  of  the 
sources  from  which  action  derives  all  good  that 
there  is,  or  can  be  in  it.  And  when  they  have  dis- 
covered that  peace  has  not  come  to  their  souls  with 
the  doing  of  this  good  thing  or  the  other,  which  has 
just  entered  with  its  influence  into  their  lives,  they 
are  restless  to  find  some  new  good  thing,  different 
perchance  from  what  they  have  known  before,  that 
by  the  doing  of  this  also  they  may  gain  the  prize. 
Lovable  souls  they  often  are  in  the  earlier  years,  but 
they  are  moving  away  from  the  true  line  of  living ; 
and  by  and  by,  as  if  by  a  law  of  the  soul's  nature, 
they  lose  out  of  themselves  the  lovable  element  more 
and  more,  and  become,  at  the  best,  mere  men  of 
good  works  without  any  inspiring  life-force  —  that 
is,  of  works  which  are  dead  and  valueless  to  the  view 
of  every  man  who  knows  what  the  deepest  life  is. 

We  may  next  observe  how  Jesus  answered  the 
young  man's  question.  It  is  noticeable,  in  the  first 
place,  that  He  met  him  on  the  ground  of  his  inquiry. 
He  did  not  turn  his  thought  to  faith  and  repentance 
directly,  but,  as  the  question  had  been  with  reference 
to  something  to  be  done,  He  reminds  him  of  the 
sphere  within  which  it  is  to  be  found.  The  keeping 
of  the  divine  commandments  is  the  means  by  which 
eternal  life  is  to  be  gained.     To  do  God's  will,  as  it 

51 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

is  made  known,  is  to  secure  the  reward.  And  when 
the  questioner,  who  is  filled  with  the  idea  of  some 
special  and  remarkable  good  thing  as  essential  to 
the  end,  asks  in  reply,  Which  command,  or  as  the 
expression  more  properly  means,  What  sort  of  com- 
mand —  Of  what  singular  and  peculiar  character  is 
this  command  of  which  you  speak,  He  simply 
points  him  to  the  well-known  requirements  of  the 
law :  Do  not  kill ;  Do  not  bear  false  witness ; 
Honour  thy  father  and  mother.  The  way  to  life  is 
not  a  far-off  path.  It  lies  before  you,  along  the  line 
of  your  daily  living.  Do  the  duty,  refrain  from  the 
evil,  which  you  meet  from  day  to  day.  The  answer 
was  so  simple  that  the  man  could  scarcely  under- 
stand it.  I  have  been  fulfilling  all  these  things  from 
my  early  youth  until  now,  he  says,  but  no  peace  has 
come.  Tell  me  of  something  more  and  further  — 
some  great  thing  which  is,  at  the  same  time,  the 
good  thing.  But  no  —  Jesus  has  only  the  simple 
words :   Do  not  kill.  Do  not  bear  false  witness. 

The  purpose  of  Jesus  was  to  teach  him  the  truth 
from  his  own  starting-point.  So  long  as  you  think 
of  mere  doing,  there  is  no  one  great  thing  to  be  dis- 
covered. The  sum  of  duty  is  the  law,  with  its  words 
which  you  think  you  have  always  obeyed.  If  you 
have  not  realised  in  your  soul  the  blessing  which 
you  seek,  you  must  ask  some  other  question  than 
this  which  you  are  thinking  of.  Life  goes  with  the 
doing  of  the  requirements  indeed,  but  not  with 
the  doing  as  an  outward  act.  The  law  is  fulfilled  in  the 
spirit  of  it,  and  there  is  no  keeping  of  its  commands 
until  this  spirit  rules  and  guides  the  soul. 

52 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

The  Christian  teaching  is  Hke  the  teaching  of  the 
Master.  It  approaches  all  who  would  seek  life  in 
the  mere  fulfilment  of  prescribed  duties  as  Jesus  ap- 
proached this  ruler.  They  are  ever  asking  for  some 
new  thing  to  be  done,  as  they  come  to  know  that 
what  has  been  done  has  failed.  They  persuade 
themselves  that  they  are  ready  to  do  anything,  how- 
ever great  it  may  be,  and  however  much  of  effort 
and  self-sacrifice  it  may  require,  if  they  can  only 
have  tJie  one  thing  made  known  to  them  which  will 
surely  bring  the  result.  The  unsatisfied  want  of  their 
hearts  is  ever  asking  where  it  is.  But  the  Christian 
teaching  constantly  reminds  them,  that  the  old  and 
familiar  commandments  are  those  whose  fulfilment 
is  required  —  that  eternal  life  lies  near  to  them  ;  and, 
in  this  way,  it  strives  to  lead  their  minds  to  some 
truer  conception  of  what  obedience  unto  life  is  — 
not  mere  doing  the  good  thing,  or  turning  away  from 
the  bad  thing,  but  doing,  or  turning  away,  with  the 
obedient  and  loving  spirit.  The  same  outward  act 
may  have  two  different  characters,  as  determined  by 
the  presence  or  absence  of  this  inward  spirit;  and, 
when  determined  in  character  by  its  presence,  it 
takes  hold  upon  the  blessing,  no  matter  whether  in 
itself  it  be  small  or  great. 

We  may  well  notice,  also,  the  manner  in  which 
the  test  of  his  own  character  was  placed  before  the 
questioner.  Jesus  did  not  set  up  some  abstract  rule 
or  method  of  deciding  what  right  character  or  good 
action  is.  He  did  not  proclaim  the  truth  in  the  case 
as  a  moral  teacher  or  philosopher  might  do.     But 

53 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

with  that  wonderful  knowledge  of  the  soul  which  He 
manifested  everywhere,  He  adapted  His  words  to 
the  individual  man  before  Him.  He  penetrated,  as 
with  divine  wisdom,  the  secret  recesses  of  this  man's 
character,  and  taught  him  personally  what  he  needed 
to  be  taught.  Moreover,  in  doing  this,  He  revealed 
him  to  himself.  It  was  for  this  end,  no  doubt,  that 
He  dealt  with  him  as  He  did.  The  individual  soul 
was  what  Jesus  was  ever  seeking ;  and  whether  the 
soul  should  be  gained,  as  the  result  of  the  seeking, 
or  should  be  lost.  He  desired  ever  to  make  it  know 
itself  and  know  its  real  attitude  towards  the  truth. 
The  young  man  was  not  told  that,  so  far  from  keep- 
ing the  commandments,  all  of  them,  as  he  supposed, 
he  had  in  reality  transgressed  some  of  them,  or 
failed  in  the  right  doing  of  the  special  things  which 
they  required.  He  was  not  reminded  in  words  that 
he  was  self-righteous,  or  even  that  his  mind  was 
dwelling  in  the  sphere  of  mere  external  acts.  So 
far  from  this,  which  might  have  turned  him  away 
from  Jesus,  with  a  justification  of  himself,  or  into  a 
determined  opposition,  and  have  accomplished  noth- 
ing for  the  opening  of  his  true  character  to  his 
own  consciousness,  Jesus  called  his  thought  to  a 
single  action,  which  was  connected  with  the  peculiar 
condition  of  his  own  personal  life.  He  was  very  rich 
and  had  great  possessions,  the  evangelists  tell  us. 
Jesus  bids  him  sell  what  he  has,  and  give  to  the  poor. 
If  you  desire  to  know  the  good  thing  to  be  done,  or 
the  thing  which,  in  your  individual  case,  will  be  the 
fulfilling  of  the  commandments,  Jesus  says  to  him  as 
it  were,  do  this  which  the  animating  spirit  of  the  law 

54 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

in  all  its  requirements  calls  upon  you  personally  to 
do,  and  then  you  may  come  and  follow  me  to  the 
securing  of  eternal  life.  How  central,  as  related 
to  character,  do  these  words  become  to  the  one  to 
whom  they  are  spoken.  How  clearly,  in  and  of 
themselves,  and  with  the  addition  of  no  further 
word,  do  they  reveal  to  him  the  depths  of  his 
inner  self. 

And  so  it  is  always  with  the  Christian  teaching. 
It  deals  with  the  individual  soul,  and  adapts  its  de- 
mands and  lessons  to  each  one  for  himself.  There 
is  no  call  sent  forth  to  every  man  to  sell  his  prop- 
erty and  give  to  the  poor  about  him.  The  over- 
powering love  of  riches  may  not  be  in  the  heart 
of  every  person  who  has  great  possessions,  or  even 
if  it  is  present,  it  may  not  be  the  thing  which  deter- 
mines the  character  and  constitutes  the  turning 
point  of  life  or  death.  It  was  so  in  this  young  man's 
case,  and  doubtless  is  in  many  similar  cases.  But 
there  may  be,  in  many  others,  no  such  love  of 
wealth,  and  the  turning  point  of  character  may  be 
elsewhere.  Let  it  be  where  it  will,  however,  there 
is,  at  that  point,  some  act  or  decision  which  is,  in  the 
sense  in  which  Jesus  uses  the  words,  the  doing  of 
the  commandments.  And  this,  not  because  of  the 
value  or  life-giving  power  of  the  act  in  itself,  but 
because  in  the  doing  of  the  act  at  the  demand  of 
righteousness  and  of  God  the  man  has  born  within 
him  the  spirit  which  fills  the  law  and  gives  it  its 
living  force. 

There  come  to  each  one  of  us  some  such  critical 
moments  of  decision  and  action,  at  which  character 

55 


Thoughts  of  and  for 

turns  in  one  direction  or  another  —  and  the  turning, 
at  such  a  moment,  may  involve  all  the  future. 
These  moments  become  tests  for  the  soul.  The 
thing  involved  in  the  divine  demand  may  be  not  as 
great  as  that  which  is  here  mentioned  by  the  evan- 
gelist—  it  may  be  of  a  very  different  character. 
But  it  will  be  a  thing  in  which  self  is  sacrificed,  and 
the  man  is  brought  under  the  rule  of  love.  If  the 
sacrifice  is  refused,  the  nobleness  of  the  soul  gives 
way.  The  evil  power  gains  new  strength  and,  it  may 
be,  becomes  ever  afterward  resistless.  If  the  sacri- 
fice, on  the  other  hand,  is  willingly  made,  the  soul 
finds  the  thing  which  has  hitherto  been  lacking  — 
the  good  thing  which  secures  for  it  eternal  life.  So 
soon  as  this  demand  has  been  met,  the  way  to  go 
forward  into  the  true  and  eternal  life  is  opened ; 
and  the  man  has  only  to  follow  after  the  Master,  as 
the  impulse  of  his  soul  will  move  him  to  do,  and  to 
find  the  life  where  He  found  it. 

The  young  man  went  away  sorrowful.  The  test 
made  him  known  to  himself.  He  saw,  in  a  moment, 
that  he  had  not  fulfilled  the  commandments,  and 
that  the  hfe-principle  was  not  within  him.  He  saw 
also  that,  for  the  unwilling  soul,  the  giving  entrance 
to  the  life-principle  was  a  far  harder  and  more  try- 
ing thing  than  the  doing  of  the  most  difficult  acts, 
and  that,  in  asking  for  some  great  thing  to  be  done, 
he  had  failed  to  comprehend  the  greater  things  of 
character  and  loving  obedience  to  duty.  He  was 
brought  into  the  life-struggle  of  the  soul  by  the 
words  of  Jesus,  and  the  victory,  as  he  knew,  was 
lost.     He  was  grieved,  but  he  turned  away. 

S6 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

What  a  different  thing  Hfe  would  have  been  for 
him  in  the  future,  if  he  had  turned  its  course  in  the 
opposite  direction !  The  words  of  the  story  are 
very  suggestive  in  this  regard.  Jesus  assures  him 
that,  if  he  will  yield  to  the  demand  which  carries  for 
his  soul  the  life-forces  within  itself,  he  will  have  at 
once  tJie  great  possession,  in  place  of  tJie  great  posses- 
sions. The  eternal  life  is  not  simply  an  inheritance 
to  be  bestowed  and  waited  for.  It  is  something  to 
be  gained  in  the  very  fulfilment  of  the  required  duty. 
And  this,  because  it  is  life.  The  act  is  nothing  in 
itself,  as  we  may  say,  —  hard  as  it  is,  it  is  a  mere 
doing  of  one  thing  rather  than  another.  But  in  it 
the  mind  and  purpose  turn  from  selfishness  to  love, 
and  the  man  is  changed.  Yesterday  the  man  was 
moving  downward,  in  the  controlling  impulses  of 
the  soul,  but  now  he  begins  to  move  upward.  The 
life-principle  was  at  the  point  of  the  action,  and  the 
movement  follows  where  the  principle  impels,  just 
as  the  stream  flows  westward,  or  eastward,  as  the 
fountain  turns  on  the  mountain  summit.  Life  moves, 
indeed,  and  grows  afterward,  and  takes  into  itself  all 
that  may  naturally  belong  to  it,  and  reaps  con- 
tinually its  own  reward ;  and  thus  there  is  progress, 
and  gradual  development,  and  slow  advance,  as  it 
may  seem  to  be,  towards  a  distant  future.  But, 
nevertheless,  it  has  at  the  beginning  what  it  has  at 
the  end,  its  owjt  vital  power,  which  is  the  reward. 

And  so  Jesus  says  to  the  questioner,  in  the  very 
words  of  His  sentence:  not,  Give  to  the  poor  and 
then  follow  me ;  and  thou  shalt  find  at  the  end  a 
treasure  in  heaven ;    but.  Give  to  the  poor  and  thou 

57 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

shall"  have  the  treasure  in  heaven  ;  and  Come,  follow 
me.  The  assurance  of  the  heavenly  treasure  —  that 
is,  the  true  and  eternal  life  of  the  soul,  with  all  the 
blessings  which  it  does,  and  may,  involve  —  is  thine 
already,  when  this  act  of  giving,  which  is  the  turn- 
ing act  of  the  life,  is  done.  What  thou  mayest  do, 
and  wilt  do  joyfully,  after  the  moment  of  turning,  is 
to  follow  me. 

The  whole  thought  and  idea  of  the  young  man, 
as  he  approached  Jesus  with  his  earnest  inquiry  and 
with  his  hope  of  gaining  light  from  Him,  were  mis- 
taken from  the  very  foundation.  His  mind  had 
been  moving,  as  the  minds  of  many  like  him  even 
in  this  age,  to  whom  we  have  alluded,  are  now  mov- 
ing, in  the  sphere  of  the  legal  system  and  of  reward 
for  works.  But  discipleship  to  Christ  is  not  a  long 
labour,  or  a  long  pathway,  at  the  end  of  which  we 
secure  a  reward  m  payment  ior  what  we  have  done. 
It  is  a  life  which  has  its  inheritance  as  its  birthright 
at  the  outset,  and  moves  forward  in  the  conscious 
possession  of  it.  In  this  sense  it  follows,  rather  than 
precedes,  the  attainment  of  the  end.  It  is  a  move- 
ment along  the  line  of  true  living,  which  begins 
from  the  self-propelling  impulses  of  a  new  life.  It 
is  a  learning  from  Christ ;  a  service  and  imitation  of 
Him ;  a  following  after  Him  as  the  great  Master 
and  Teacher,  because  in  Him  is  manifestly  set  forth, 
in  its  perfectness  and  glory,  this  life  into  which  the 
soul  has  newly  entered.  And  thus  the  turning  to 
the  new  life  —  whatever  may  be  the  special  act  of  the 
man  in  the  doing  of  which  it  takes  place  —  is  always 
a  joyful  turning.     It  takes  into  itself  the  joy  which 

58 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

Jesus  meant  to  have  the  young  ruler  take,  when  He 
said  to  him :  Sell  that  thou  hast  and  give  to  the 
poor.  The  young  ruler's  countenance  fell  as  he 
heard  the  saying,  and  he  moved  on  into  the  future 
sorrowful,  because  he  had  turned  backward  along 
the  old  course  of  his  living.  But  there  was  nothing 
like  this  where  Jesus  pointed  him.  There  was  the 
beginning  of  a  new  life-force  there,  just  within  his 
grasp — just  ready  to  be  the  inspiration  of  all  his 
future  existence — just  waiting  to  give  him  the 
blessing  to  which  no  sorrow  is  added.  There  was 
a  new  life  there,  which  should  be,  Hke  all  true  and 
beautiful  life,  full  of  joy  because  full  of  its  own 
activity ;  growing  stronger  and  richer  because  of  the 
continual  forth-putting  of  its  own  powers ;  realising 
ever  more  and  more  fully  the  greatness  of  the  in- 
heritance, the  possession  of  which  it  knew  to  be  an 
essential  part  of  itself  at  the  moment  when  it  began 
to  know  its  own  being.  The  treasure  becomes  yours 
when  you  turn  toward  God,  instead  of  turning  away 
from  Him  —  such  is  the  meaning  of  the  words  ad- 
dressed to  the  young  ruler,  as  they  go  forth  beyond 
him  to  all  who  ask  the  question  which  he  asked  — 
the  treasure  becomes  yours  so  soon  as  you  turn 
toward  God,  instead  of  turning  away  from  Him, 
Come,  is  the  invitation,  learn  what  the  treasure  is 
in  its  joy  and  blessing,  by  following  after  Christ. 

And  now,  as  we  have  followed  out  the  line  of 
thought  thus  far,  we  find  a  suggestion  as  to  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  words  which  seem  strange  to  us  at 
first,  and   with  which  Jesus   opens   His  part  of  the 

59 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

conversation: — Why  askest  thou  me  concerning 
that  which  is  good?  One  there  is  who  is  good. 
The  Christian  message  does  not  come  to  teach  us 
what  is  good,  as  if  this  had  never  been  revealed  to 
men  before.  The  good  lies  in  the  fulfilling  of  what 
God  commands  —  that  is,  the  expression  of  His 
will,  which  is  the  outcome  of  the  perfect  life  within 
Himself,  Do  the  will  of  God,  and  become  like 
Him.  This  is  the  fundamental  truth  of  all  soul-life. 
But  this  is  a  revelation  of  God  in  the  consciences  of 
men,  and  in  the  law  which  was  given  long  ages  be- 
fore the  coming  of  the  Gospel.  Jesus  was  not  a 
new  teacher,  in  the  sense  in  which  his  questioner 
seemed  to  look  upon  Him  as  such  —  a  teacher  who 
could  add  to  the  old  commandments  and  services 
some  one  great  thing,  in  the  doing  of  which  the 
secret  of  life  and  peace  was  to  be  discovered.  His 
purpose  and  work  were  to  a  different  end  from  this. 
He  came  only  to  point  the  way,  and  to  open  the 
way  to  God  — to  bring  the  soul  back  to  that  start- 
ing-place of  life,  as  it  were,  where  with  a  newly 
awakened  and  efficient  life-force  it  could  successfully 
begin  the  work  of  true,  loving  obedience.  There- 
fore, His  bidding  to  this  young  man  was:  Do  the 
commandments  —  the  simple,  plain,  old  commands 
of  the  law:  not  to  kill,  or  steal,  or  bear  false  witness 
—  but  do  them,  not  as  you  have  been  doing  them, 
but  with  a  full  sense  of  their  meaning  and  with  the 
spirit  of  God's  children.  To  give  you  this  sense 
and  this  spirit,  which  you  have  lost  out  of  yourself, 
as  you  will  realise  in  your  own  mind  in  a  little  while, 
when  I  call  you  to  give  up  your  possessions  for  the 

60 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

help  of  the  poor  around  you,  —  to  make  you  this 
gift  was  the  purpose  of  my  coming  to  you  as  a 
teacher.  To  receive  this  gift  should  be  the  purpose 
of  your  coming  to  me.    Do  not  call  me,  Good  Master 

—  none  is  good  save  one,  that  is,  God,  Do  not  ask 
me  respecting  the  good.     One  there  is,  who  is  good 

—  the  Divine  Father.  Let  mc  only  reveal  you  to 
yourself,  and  open  your  mind  and  your  way  to 
Him.  My  doctrine  is  no  new  commandment ;  it  is 
the  old  commandment  which  was  from  the  begin- 
ning. My  words  are  spirit,  and  they  are  life. 
Take  them  into  yourself,  and  you  are  a  new  man. 
The  secret  of  the  life  which  you  desire  is  in  the 
life-force. 

We  come  thus  at  this  point  to  the  central  truth. 
The  Christian  doctrine  is  not  a  revealing  of  what  the 
good  is,  as  if  this  had  never  been  made  known 
before,  but  a  revealing  of  the  way  to  attain  it.  The 
good  is  righteousness.  The  good  is  conformity 
in  the  life  to  the  will,  and  thus  to  the  character,  of 
the  one  Being  who  is  good  —  that  is,  God.  But 
how  shall  we  gain  it?  This  is  the  question  which 
we  need  to  have  answered  for  us,  and  Christianity 
gives  us  its  answer. 

It  is  worthy  of  notice,  as  we  take  leave  of  the 
story  and  its  thoughts,  how  completely  this  answer 
turns  the  man  away  from  self  and  selfishness. 
Jesus  bids  the  young  ruler  seek  after  the  good, 
which  brings  life  and  is  hfe,  in  God.  He  is  to  find 
what  he  asks  for  in  a  personal  communion  with  the 
source  and  author  of  the  wonderful  gift.     He  is  to 

6i 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

attain  to  this  communion  by  a  fulfilment  of  what  is 
required  as  the  essential  element  of  true  action  and 
life; — and  this  fulfilment  is  to  be  the  result  and 
outgrowth  of  that  principle  of  love  which  is  the 
opposite  of  all  selfishness.  He  bids  him,  again,  in 
his  movement  towards  fulfilling  the  law,  to  do  those 
things  which  the  law  requires  in  his  relations  to  his 
fellow-men.  Do  no  ill  to  those  about  you,  but  ever 
do  them  good.  Have  that  loving  spirit  within  you, 
the  out-flowing  of  which  is  service  and  helpfulness, 
and  thus  abide  in  the  sphere  of  that  golden  rule  of 
life  which  inspires  you,  while  it  commands  yon,  to  do 
to  others  as  you  would  have  them  do  to  you.  In 
this  way,  take  the  demands  of  the  Divine  law,  as  it 
was  given  at  the  beginning,  into  the  deepest  and 
inmost  part  of  your  soul,  and  make  it  the  spring  and 
fountain  of  all  good  deeds.  He  bids  him,  once 
more,  to  follow  after  Himself.  Come,  be  my  dis- 
ciple —  not  as  asking  me  one  question,  or  how  to  do 
one  thing,  and  then  going  away  to  depend  on  your- 
self, and  to  deceive  yourself  with  the  thought  that 
you  are  obedient  to  the  law  —  but,  as  a  true  follower 
in  the  way  of  the  soul's  true  life,  imitating,  trusting, 
believing  in,  and  yielding  the  soul,  with  its  active 
powers  and  its  loving  powers,  to  the  Teacher  who 
will  lead  you  away  from  the  evil  that  is  in  yourself 
towards  and  into  that  good  which  dwells,  in  its  ful- 
ness, in  the  one  God.  And  so  the  bidding  and 
the  lesson  are  from  the  beginning  to  the  end  the 
same.  Let  him  deny  himself  and  follow  me.  Let 
him  gain  his  life  by  losing  it,  and  let  him  receive  the 
hundredfold  reward  in  the  eternal  good — which  is 

62 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

the  perfected  soul,  perfect  in  love — through  giving 
up  all  that  centres  the  soul  in  its  selfishness  and 
itself. 

How  clearly  the  lesson  gathered  itself  into  one 
word  and  one  act,  when  Jesus  said,  Go,  sell  that 
thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt  have 
treasure  in  heaven.  The  life  in  the  lower  sense 
would  be  lost  in  the  moment  of  the  doing  of  that 
act,  and  the  life  in  the  higher  sense  would  be  gained 
at  the  same  moment,  because  the  act  was  so  central, 
as  related  to  the  life-forces,  that  it  carried  within  it- 
self the  change  for  all  the  future.  The  same  is  true 
of  us.  There  is  somewhere,  for  each  one  of  us,  a 
movement  towards  God  which  takes  hold  of  loving 
trustfulness  in  Him,  and  is  the  beginning  of  the 
eternal  life.  It  is  a  movement  which  answers  to  the 
inviting  and  teaching  word  of  Jesus,  and  is  ever 
afterward  a  following  after  Him.  The  supreme 
moment  of  our  life-time  is  the  moment  when  this 
word  is  spoken.  The  question  of  the  eternal  good 
for  us  is  the  question  of  our  yielding  to  the  call  and 
bidding  of  the  Master,  or  our  turning  away.  The 
young  ruler  heard  the  word,  and  sorrowfully  went 
to  his  old  life  once  more.  But  the  true  life-forces 
were  not  to  be  found  in  the  old  path;  and  his  going 
away  was  a  far  more  sorrowful  thing  than  he 
thought. 


63 


V 

THE   HEAVENLY  VISION 

Wherefore,  O  King  Agrippa,  I  was  not  disobedient  u?ito  the 
heavenly  vision.  —  Acts  xxvi.   ig. 

THE  conversion  of  the  Apostle  Paul  from  his 
Jewish  belief  to  his  Christian  faith,  from  his 
bitter  enmity  against  Jesus  to  an  all-constraining 
love  for  Him,  and  from  an  old  life  of  harassing 
inward  struggle  to  a  new  life  of  inward  peace,  has 
always  stood  forth  in  the  history  of  the  Church  so 
conspicuously  as  to  arrest  the  attention  of  every 
serious  mind.  The  suddenness  and  the  complete- 
ness in  the  change  of  the  man  bear  witness  of  a 
remarkable  power  putting  forth  its  energy,  the  real- 
ity of  which  it  is  impossible  to  deny.  One  day  a 
persecutor ;  the  next  day  a  preacher ;  and  the  great 
transformation  taking  place  by  reason  of  a  wonder- 
ful light  breaking  forth  at  noon-day  —  there  must 
have  been  something  in  the  scene  and  event,  the 
reader  of  the  narrative  is  impelled  to  say,  which  had 
a  marvellous,  if  not  mysterious,  force  for  character 
and  life.  There  must  have  been  behind  what  was 
made  manifest  to  the  bodily  eye,  or  in  the  centre,  as 
it  were,  of  that  which  was  revealed  to  the  senses,  a 
life-moving  element  for  the  soul.  The  man  does 
not    become  a   new  man  —  the    newness    does    not 

64 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

make  itself  known  as  absolute  and  immediate  —  un- 
less new  and  mighty  energies  are  in  movement  at 
the  hour.  The  wonder  of  the  result  proves  the 
wonder  of  the  cause,  and  there  is  no  room  for 
doubting  when  the  result  appears.  Life  testifies 
unmistakably  of  what  lies  back  of  it,  for  life  is  itself 
the  movement  of  living  forces. 

It  cannot  but  be  interesting,  if  we  arc  interested  in 
Christian  history  and  experience,  or  even  if  we  are 
interested,  as  every  manly  man  must  be,  in  the  con- 
dition and  possibilities  of  the  soul  within  us,  to  look 
into  what  the  person  who  had  this  great  change  in 
his  own  life  said  about  it,  and  to  interpret  his  words 
by  what  we  know  of  him  after  the  hour  of  the  won- 
derful scene. 

The  words  of  the  verse  which  is  taken  as  the  sub- 
ject of  our  thought  give  us  tJie  cause  of  the  change, 
and  the  working  force  in  the  life  that  followed  it. 
We  may  look  at  the  words  from  the  two  points  of 
view. 

The  cause  of  the  change  is  represented  in  the 
expression  :  the  heavenly  vision.  What  was  it,  that 
was  seen?  It  was  a  person.  The  Apostle  saw  Jesus. 
The  wonderful  man  concerning  whom  he  had  heard 
so  much,  but  in  whom  he  had  had  so  little  disposi- 
tion to  believe  —  whose  career  he  thought  to  have 
been  ignominiously  and  disastrously  ended  by  His 
ignominious  death,  and  whose  influence  he  doubted 
not  would  cease,  so  soon  as  His  few  followers  could 
be  scattered  or  suppressed  —  appeared  in  a  marvel- 
lous way.  He  manifested  himself  as  still  alive ;  as 
5  65 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

exalted  to  a  higher  position,  and  higher  power;  as 
standing  in  close  relation  to  His  disciples;  as  plan- 
ning for  and  ordering  His  cause  in  the  world ;  as 
uniting  in  Himself  and  in  His  thought  the  heavenly- 
things  and  the  earthly,  now  that  He  had  passed 
from  the  latter  to  the  former.  He  stood  forth 
clearly  as  what  He  had  claimed  to  be,  and  as  what 
those  who  had  trusted  Him  supposed  that  He  was 
—  the  divine  messenger  and  Messiah  sent  from  God. 
But  there  was  something  beyond  this,  and  some- 
thing which  was  even  more  and  nearer  to  Paul's  per- 
sonal life.  The  wonderful  man  declared  Himself  to 
be  affected  by  what  he  had  individually  been  doing. 
The  persecution  of  His  followers  had  not  found  its 
end  in  them  ;  it  had  reached  Him.  The  attempt  to 
destroy  the  new  belief  was,  in  reality,  an  attempt 
put  forth  against  Him  who  had  awakened  it.  The 
onward  movement  in  the  line  which  Paul  had 
chosen,  and  along  which  he  was  pressing  so  deter- 
minately  and  earnestly,  was  a  movement  in  opposi- 
tion to  Him  whose  voice  called  to  another  line  of 
action  and  another  manner  of  living.  There  was  a 
revelation  of  one  personality  to  another  personality, 
involving  all  which  the  one  could  reveal  to  the  other. 
I  am  Jesus  —  so  the  voice  said; — What  am  I  to 
you,  and  what  are  you  to  me?  These  were  the 
questions  and  thoughts  which  the  scene  brought  to 
the  mind  of  the  one  who  witnessed  it.  They  were 
thoughts  to  be  dwelt  upon,  and  questions  to  be 
answered,  in  the  meditations  of  the  years  that  fol- 
lowed, as  well  as  in  the  first  thinking  of  the  present 
hour. 

66 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

This  is  the  representation  of  the  matter  which  the 
Apostle  gives  in  both  of  his  two  descriptions  of  the 
vision  recorded  in  the  narrative  of  tlie  historian,  and 
in  all  the  passages  of  his  own  writings,  also,  in  which 
he  makes  allusion  to  it.  The  sight  which  he  had 
was  a  sight  of  Jesus;  and  the  moving  force  for  life 
was  the  force  which  came  from  His  personality. 
We  miss  the  very  essence  and  central  significance 
of  the  whole  matter  when  we  view  it  in  any  other 
way.  The  Apostle  was  not,  as  related  to  the  great 
and  remarkable  change  which  took  place  in  his 
inmost  life,  a  man  of  reflection,  or  a  philosopher, 
who  had  long  been  searching  after  the  true  doctrine 
of  righteousness,  and  had  finally  reasoned  out  for 
himself  the  doctrine  of  faith.  Much  less  was  he  one 
who,  having  been  dissatisfied  with  all  experiments 
and  experiences  which  he  had  known  in  the  past, 
had  suddenly,  as  it  seemed  to  himself  at  the  moment, 
though  probably  not  so  afterwards,  come  to  the 
conviction  that  the  way  of  faith  was  the  only  way  to 
attain  forgiveness  and  salvation.  His  mind,  even  in 
the  after  years,  when  he  became  a  great  teacher  of 
the  churches,  —  much  as  it  had  to  do  with  doctrine, 
or  dwelt  upon  it  for  the  benefit  of  others  —  never 
had  the  real  movement  of  its  living  powers  in  the 
sphere  of  doctrine.  This  movement  was  in  the 
sphere  of  personal  living.  All  new  thoughts  which 
came  to  him  —  all  new  revealings  —  were  of  life,  and 
for  life.  The  doctrine  entered  through  the  door  of 
the  life,  and  was  a  secondary  thing,  while  the  life 
was  primary.  It  was  but  the  setting  forth  in  words 
of  the  way  in  which  the  living  begins  and  goes  for- 

67 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

ward  —  useful  for  its  purpose,  but  not  the  first  and 
all-important  and  all-embracing  thing.  Life  was 
this  all-important  thing.  It  was  so  as  truly  in  the 
earlier  days  as  it  was  in  the  later  days.  The  deeply- 
implanted  and  fundamental  characteristics  of  the 
man  were  not  altered  as  the  strange  light  shone  in 
upon  him.  The  same  enthusiasm  for  living,  as  dis- 
tinguished from  everything  else,  was  in  him  at  the 
first,  and  remained  in  him.  The  line  of  its  outgoing 
only  was,  in  the  later  time,  a  new  one.  The  pur- 
pose of  the  man  at  the  first,  as  always,  was  a  pur- 
pose of  life,  and  to  the  movement  of  life,  and  of 
its  forces,  all  his  thinking  was  wholly  subordinate. 
The  fact  that  it  was  thus,  made  the  suddenness  and 
the  wonder  of  the  change  possible.  There  could  be 
no  great  visions  and  revelations  for  such  a  man, 
except  visions  and  revelations  for  personal  life. 

How  was  it,  then,  that  Paul  saw  the  truth,  or  the 
way  of  life  and  peace  for  his  soul?  He  saw,  in  the 
sudden  light  of  the  moment,  what  the  other  disciples 
had  seen  in  the  years  preceding.  He  saw  that  in 
Jesus  the  Divine  Father  was  manifesting  Himself  in 
relation  to  men  as  His  children,  and  that  thus,  in  and 
through  Jesus,  he  could  come  into  personal  relation 
to  God  as  his  Father.  The  whole  matter  of  life  for 
himself  was  thus  changed  at  once  for  his  thought. 
He  was  not  living,  as  he  had  supposed  himself  to  be, 
under  a  system  of  rules  appointed  for  him  by  a 
governing  power,  in  which  the  starting-point  of  all 
action  was  within  himself,  and  through  which  noth- 
ing but  law  moved  towards  his  soul.     He  was  living 

68 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

under  a  system,  though  he  had  not  realised  it  at  all, 
of  personal  love.  The  voice  which  called  him  was 
a  Father's  voice.  Because  it  was  so,  it  carried  the 
offer  of  forgiveness  in  itself — a  free  forgiveness,  full 
and  without  conditions  —  immediate,  and  not  depen- 
dent on  a  previous  testing  of  long-continued  action. 
Because  it  was  so,  it  bore  witness  of  loving  trust  as 
the  uniting  and  re-uniting  power  which  should  bind 
the  soul  to  God —  uniting,  where  no  sin  had  entered 
to  break  the  union ;  re-uniting,  where  there  had 
been  such  an  entrance.  How  strange  that  he  had 
never,  before  this,  seen  the  truth  !  How  beautiful  it 
seemed,  now  that  he  saw  it ! 

The  words  were  very  few,  and  very  personal 
words :  I  am  Jesus,  whom  thou  persecutest.  I  am 
the  messenger  of  God  bearing  to  you,  and  to  all  men, 
the  message  of  the  Divine  love,  and  you  are  resist- 
ing the  message  and  persecuting  the  messenger.  I 
place  myself  now  before  you,  and  place  you,  also, 
before  myself.  Think  what  we  are,  in  our  relation 
to  each  other —  how  you  ought  to  feel  towards  me, 
and  how  you  are  feeling.  You  are  moving  in  the 
wrong  direction  —  wrong  in  a  sinful  way.  You  are 
acting  as  an  enemy  to  one  whom  you  ought  to  love 
—  to  one  who  has  said  all  things  and  done  all  things 
in  love  to  you.  The  soul's  life  is  not,  and  cannot 
be,  found  where  you  are  moving.  It  is  not  in 
enmity,  but  in  love.  How  can  you  find  your  way 
back  to  it?  By  the  pathway,  and  the  only  pathway, 
in  which  souls  move  into  union  —  the  pathway  of 
loving  confidence,  the  pathway  of  faith.  Turn 
back  upon  your  course  and  into  this  way;  and  for- 

69 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

giveness  and  peace  will  meet  you  at  once.  They 
will  meet  you  at  once,  for  I  am  in  the  pathway,  and 
the  Father  is  in  me. 

Such  were  the  thoughts  that  the  voice  brought  to 
him.  They  were  involved  in  the  words  which  were 
spoken.  They  bore  in  themselves  a  revelation  which 
included  everything  for  the  man's  personal  living. 
They  constituted,  as  we  may  truly  say,  the  vision, 
for  in  the  sight  of  Jesus,  as  the  vision  made  Him 
known,  they  were  opened  to  the  mind.  It  is  no 
wonder  that  they  came  in  a  moment,  or  that  they 
changed  the  whole  of  life  for  the  man  who  received 
them  into  his  soul.  This  is  the  manner  in  which 
great  life-thoughts  come  and  work  —  oftentimes,  if 
not  always.  Every  true  man  knows  somewhat  of 
such  experiences  in  his  own  mental  and  moral 
development.  That  is  a  beautiful  story  —  as  real  in 
the  history  of  the  soul  as  it  is  beautiful  in  the  telling 
of  it  —  that  story  of  the  Prodigal  Son,  which  Luke 
has  recorded  for  us  among  the  sayings  of  Jesus.  It 
gathers  up  and  centres  in  itself  the  gospel-teaching 
of  forgiveness  and  life.  But  of  all  the  wonderful 
and  real  things  suggested  in  it,  there  is  nothing  more 
impressive  for  our  thought  than  the  suddenness  of 
the  new  revelation  for  tJie  soiW s  life,  which  came  to 
the  returning  son  when  he  saw  his  father  in  the 
pathway.  He  had  before  this,  in  all  the  seriousness 
of  his  mind  which  followed  what  the  writer  of  the 
Gospel  calls  his  coming  to  himself,  been  thinking  of 
action  beginning  on  his  own  part,  and  of  earning 
favour  by  good  deeds  in  the  future,  and  of  full 
reconciliation  and  restoration  to  the  old  tenderness 

70 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

of  love  on  the  father's  side,  when  he  had  proved,  by 
days  or  years  of  better  hving,  his  right  to  be  trusted. 
But  as  the  father  stood  before  him,  suddenly  and 
unexpectedly  revealed,  the  vision  opened  to  him  the 
inner  life  of  the  man  whom  he  saw,  and  at  the  same 
moment  opened  to  him  also  a  new  understanding  of 
the  relation  of  his  own  inner  life  to  the  life  which 
he  saw.  He  apprehended,  as  through  the  breaking 
forth  of  a  light  from  heaven,  that  the  renewed  union 
of  the  two  souls  was  to  be  secured  through  loving 
faith,  to  which  immediate  forgiveness  answered,  and 
thus  that  the  life-pathway  was  the  plainest  and 
easiest  of  all  pathways  —  with  forgiveness  and  trust 
meeting  each  other  at  the  very  beginning  of  the 
path. 

Paul  was  not  a  man  like  the  prodigal,  indeed,  — 
far  from  it,  —  but  he  had  the  same  revelation  of  the 
true  life-way,  and  it  came  with  the  same  suddenness, 
and  after  a  similar  manner.  The  old  thinking  gave 
way  before  the  new  vision.  The  new  vision  was  the 
vision  of  the  personality  of  him  who  was  revealed 
in  the  one  case  as  truly  as  it  was  in  the  other,  and  it 
carried  in  itself,  in  both  cases  alike,  all  the  forces  of 
the  changed  life.  These  forces  were  loving  trust  on 
the  one  part,  and  loving  favour  on  the  other  —  a  thing 
on  each  side  which  the  man  had  not  comprehended 
before,  but  which,  when  comprehended,  could  not 
but  stir,  for  all  the  future,  the  deepest  thoughts  of 
the  soul. 

The  reasoning,  the  arguments  and  proofs,  the  de- 
velopment of  the  true  doctrine,  the  unfolding  of  the 
plan  and  system  of  the  Divine  working  for  the  re- 

71 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

newed  life  of  men — ^  all  this  belonged  to  a  later 
season.  All  this  had  relation  to  the  mind's  thinking 
and  to  the  presentation  of  the  truth  to  others.  It 
needed  the  growth  of  thought  out  of  the  first  seed- 
thought.  It  could  wait  for  a  time  till  the  coming  of 
its  own  appropriate  hour.  But  the  man,  at  this 
critical  moment,  was  in  another  sphere.  He  was  in 
the  great  personal  crisis  for  himself.  He  needed 
only  —  and  imperatively  —  the  seed-thought,  which 
should  have  its  growth  afterwards.  This  seed- 
thought  was  connected  with  the  relation  of  his  own 
personality  to  the  Divine  personality,  and  it  required 
for  its  coming  to  the  man,  and  its  implantation 
within  him,  one  thing  alone — the  meeting  of  the 
two  personalities.  The  vision  realised  this  meeting. 
It  had  in  itself  the  cmise  of  what  followed  in  the  after 
time,  but  did  not  gather  into  itself  cvejythijig  that 
followed,  whether  in  thought  or  in  act.  The  soul- 
movement  which  it  knew  as  a  real  experience  set  in 
motion  the  mind-movement  and  the  life-movement, 
but  these  in  their  completeness  became  real  experi- 
ences only  when  the  after-time  had  come.  The 
cause  was  not  the  effect ;  but  it  produced  the  effect. 
What  pertained  to  the  vision  was  not  the  whole  of 
the  changed  life  of  the  future;  but  it  was  the  whole 
of  the  change,  out  of  which  the  future  naturally,  and 
as  by  a  necessity,  came  into  being.  It  was,  as  life- 
changes  are,  the  matter  of  a  single  momentous  hour 
which  centres  all  in  itself. 

Such  was  the  cause  of  the  change.     The  working- 
force,  by  which   the  cause  of  the  change  was  con- 

72 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

nectcd  with  the  result,  is  also  indicated  in  the  words 
of  Paul.     Let  us   look   at  this  for  a  few  moments. 
"  I   was   not   disobedient   to   the   heavenly  vision." 
I  did   not  resist,  but  I  yielded   myself  to  the  influ- 
ences which  came  to  me  from  it.     How  simple  and 
natural  it  was !     The  son  met  his  father  in  the  path- 
way, as   he  had  not  thought  of  meeting  him.     At 
the  moment  of  the   meeting,  he  saw  in  the   father 
what  he   had  not   thought  to  see.     The   revelation 
was  as   distinct,  and  as   complete,  as  it  was   unex- 
pected.    It  opened  an  entirely  new  view  of  life  and 
its  forces.     It  revealed  love,  and   forgiveness,   and 
far-reaching     possibilities,    and    wonderful    hopes. 
But    there   was    a  further    revelation   for   the  son's 
life    which    came    forth    from    that    of  the    father's 
life.      It   was    the    revelation    of    a    new    impulse 
within  himself,  which  was  to  make  the  life's  move- 
ment   afterward    an   easy   one,    and    which   would 
prove    a    uniting    power    linking   the   cause  of  the 
changed   life  to   all   the   results.     The  impulse  was 
that    of  obedience    to   what   the  vision    carried    in 
itself.     The   vision  for   Paul  bore  witness  that  the 
Divine  Father's  love  was  ready,  with  a  boundless 
readiness,  to  forgive  and  pass  over  the  past  at  the 
very  moment  of  the  first  turn  in  the  soul's  attitude 
and    feeling.     The   impulse  of  his  manly  soul   was 
to  meet  the  love  on   God's  part  with  an  answering 
love  on  his  own.      The  Friend  who  had  stayed  him 
on  his  journey  through  the  suddenness  and  bright- 
ness of  the  light   from  heaven,  had  said   all  things 
in  testimony  of  love  and   of  the  Father  when  He 
said,  I  am  Jesus  whom  thou  art  persecuting.     The 

73 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

response  could  be  no  other  than  it  was :  What 
wilt  thou  have  me  to  do?  The  reconciliation, 
which  terminated  the  old  life  for  him  and  began 
the  new  life,  was  a  change  from  enmity  to  love  on 
the  one  part,  because  of  the  overflowing  fulness 
of  love  on  the  other  —  and  the  impulse  of  the  new 
life  was  inseparable  from  the  life  itself. 

We  look  along  the  course  of  the  life-time  after 
that  hour,  and  we  see  the  new  force  working  every- 
where, and  at  all  times.  No  sooner  had  the  vision 
passed,  in  the  wonderful  effect  which  it  produced 
for  the  moment,  than  the  carrying  out  of  the  obedi- 
ence to  it  began.  In  the  very  city  to  which  he 
had  directed  his  way  that  he  might  accomplish  his 
hostile  purpose,  destroying  the  faith  in  Jesus  if 
this  should  be  possible,  he  begins  to  tell  of  Him 
as  the  hope  of  the  soul  and  the  power  of  God. 
The  movement  of  his  energy  is,  at  once,  in  entire 
contrast  to  what  it  had  ever  been  before.  He 
cannot  be  earnest  enough  to  satisfy  his  own  desires 
and  to  meet  with  fulness  of  result  the  obligation 
which  he  feels.  The  years  pass  on,  and  it  is  ever 
the  same.  The  sentiment  of  his  life  is  expressed  in 
the  words  which,  at  the  middle  point  of  his  career, 
he  addressed  to  the  Corinthian  believers :  "  The 
love  of  Christ  constraineth  us,  because  he  died  for 
us  all ;  and  he  died  for  us  that  we  should  no  longer 
live  for  ourselves,  but  for  him."  These  words  were, 
in  reality,  the  remembrance  of  the  vision.  They 
contained  in  themselves  the  essence  of  its  mean- 
ing, and,  by  their  living  presence  and  power  within 
his  soul,  caused   it  to  abide  with  him  always.      So 

74 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

he  passed  from  city  to  city  —  so  he  preached  to 
Jews  and  Greeks — so  he  made  his  defence  before 
the  high-priest  and  the  emperor — so  he  endured 
all  sufferings  and  trials  —  so  he  fought  the  good 
fight  and  kept  the  faith  —  so  he  finished  his  course, 
as  he  had  begun  it,  with  the  one  principle  always 
triumphant  in  his  soul,  the  principle  of  love  for  the 
one  who  had  loved  him  and  manifested  Himself  to 
him. 

This  is  the  way  in  which  life  moves,  when  it  is 
impelled  by  a  great  and  grand  impulse,  taken  into 
himself  by  one  man  by  reason  of  his  meeting  with 
another.  But  the  peculiar  expression  of  the  Apostle 
is  worthy  of  notice,  and  it  has  a  revelation  in  itself. 
"  I  was  not  disobedient."  He  does  not  say,  I  put 
forth  mighty  effort;  or  I  roused  my  energy  anew 
by  daily  and  continual  awakening;  or  I  stirred 
my  enthusiasm  by  the  thoughts  of  duty  or  of  suc- 
cess; or,  even,  I  was  active  in  obeying  what  I 
seemed  to  have  heard.  He  says  simply,  I  was  not 
disobedient.  The  vision  was  a  beautiful  one,  a 
wonderful  one.  It  had  in  it  all  thoughts  of  God  in 
His  relation  to  my  soul.  It  revealed  to  me  Jesus 
and  all  that  is  in  Him.  It  set  before  me  Jesus  and 
myself  in  the  meeting  together  of  the  two  person- 
alities. There  was  but  one  thing  needful  for  me  to 
do — and  there  never  has  been  but  this  one  thing, 
from  that  far  distant  hour  of  my  seeing  the  vision 
to  this  late  hour  of  my  telling  of  it —  and  that  was 
not  to  resist  its  teaching  and  its  influence.  If  I  did 
not  resist  these,  the  power  for  the  life  came  forth  of 
itself.      If  I    let  it    come,   in  the  early  or  the  late 

75 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

hour  —  in  the  one  equally  as  in  the  other —  it  came 
directly,  easily,  sweetly,  with  heavenly  naturalness, 
to  my  soul,  and  showed  itself  in  every  way  to  be 
fitted  for  my  soul.  So  I  have  worked  on,  with 
never-failing  earnestness  and  with  boundless  enthu- 
siasm, simply  keeping  the  door  of  my  soul  open  to 
receive  what  the  vision  ever  held  within  itself  for 
me.  This  is  the  story  of  my  life,  and  now,  as  the 
end  seems  to  be  drawing  near,  and  I  stand  before 
the  great  earthly  powers  awaiting  their  decision  as 
to  my  fate,  I  am  calm  and  peaceful  in  my  memory 
of  the  vision  and  my  thought  of  what  it  has  done 
for  me.  I  am  even  doubtful  as  to  what  I  may  wish 
to  be  the  result,  for  I  find,  with  an  ever  deepening 
sense  of  the  reality  of  the  experience,  that  it  is 
Christ  for  me  to  live,  and  I  know,  with  an  ever 
growing  confidence,  that  it  is  Christ  in  me,  and 
with  me,  if  I  die. 

This,  my  friend,  is  Christian  experience  from  the 
beginning  to  the  end.  I  commend  it  to  you,  that 
you  may  make  it  your  own.  The  vision  of  Jesus  is 
before  you,  if  you  will  only  open  your  eyes  to 
behold  it.  You  may  see  it  to-day,  if  you  will  retire 
into  the  depths  of  your  own  soul  and  let  your  true 
personality  meet  His.  The  vision  will  be  a  more 
beautiful  one  than  you  ever  saw  before.  It  will 
have  the  great  revelation  of  life  for  you.  It  will 
have  in  itself  the  life-power  and  the  life-impulse. 
And  the  impulse  which  moves  all  forces  within  you 
will  come  into  your  soul,  at  the  first,  —  and  ever, 
again  and  again,  through  all  the  years  —  if  you  will 
only  not  be  disobedient  to  the  vision,  but  will  suffer 

76 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

it  to  be  for  you  what  it  truly  is.  The  marvel  of  the 
Divine  impulse  for  noblest  living  is,  that  it  enters 
the  soul  of  itself,  when  the  vision  is  seen  and  the 
man  opens  the  door.  It  is  the  working-force  of 
the  changed  and  renewed  life,  whose  source  is  the 
love  made  known  in  the  vision.  It  starts  all  ener- 
gies and  activities ;  moves  to  duty  and  endurance ; 
gives  strength  for  labour  and  trial ;  stirs  the  man- 
hood to  enthusiasm  and  heroism ;  makes  life  to  be 
full,  and  great,  and  victorious  everywhere.  But  it 
comes  itself  to  the  man  gently  and  easily,  asking  of 
him  nothing  but  that  the  door  may  be  opened  to 
receive  it.  It  is  breathed  into  his  open  soul  with 
the  breathing  of  Divine  love,  even  as  Jesus  breathed 
on  the  earliest  disciples  when  He  met  them  on  that 
first  Sunday  evening,  and  said,  Receive  ye  the  Holy 
Spirit.  The  effort,  the  struggle,  the  victory,  come 
with  the  years,  and  along  the  years.  But  they  all 
grow  out  of  the  impulse.  It  takes  care  of  them 
and  secures  them;  and,  as  it  does  so,  it  makes  life 
strong,  and  manly,  and  ready  for  the  present  and 
the  future  alike.  Let  it  enter  in  its  own  sweet  way, 
through  your  seeing  the  heavenly  vision,  and  not 
being  disobedient  to  it.  The  life-time  that  follows 
will  be  ever  realising  more  fully  for  you,  and  within 
you,  what  the  life  has  in  its  possession  and  its 
promise. 

It  is  a  very  significant  circumstance  connected 
with  these  words  of  the  Apostle,  as  here  recorded, 
that  they  were  addressed  to  a  man  who  had  no 
interest  in  the  speaker  except  that  of  curiosity,  and 

77 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

no  openness  of  mind  at  all  for  the  doctrine  which 
he  declared.  The  man  said  to  him  a  few  moments 
later,  in  a  tone  half  of  pity  and  half  of  contempt: 
It  is  with  a  very  little  of  persuasive  power  that  you 
are  trying  to  make  me  a  Christian.  Your  visions, 
as  you  call  them,  have  no  meaning  for  me.  They 
have,  as  I  believe,  no  reality  for  yourself.  You  are 
a  dreamer — a  dreamer  even  to  madness.  My  old 
faith,  or  my  no  faith,  is  better  than  this;  and  I  have 
known  too  much  of  life  to  trust  to  such  dreamings. 

Paul  made  the  answer  which  came  from  the 
inmost  soul  and  from  the  soul's  deepest  experience: 
I  would  to  God  that  not  only  thou,  but  also  all 
that  hear  me,  might  become  such  as  I  am.  What 
I  am  is  tJie  reality  of  the  vision.  Life-power,  which 
transforms,  and  builds  up,  and  new-creates  the  soul, 
pertains  to  no  dreaming.  It  is  the  most  actual 
and  vital  of  all  things.  It  comes  to  the  soul,  when 
it  comes  from  another  as  it  came  to  me,  not  from 
the  picture  of  the  man,  or  the  dreaming  of  the  man, 
but  from  the  man  himself.  Call  to  mind  what  I 
was  in  the  early  days,  and  what  I  am  now  —  think 
of  what  I  was  just  before  the  vision,  and  what  I  was 
just  afterwards;  — and  you  may  know  for  yourself 
what  the  vision  had  in  it —  reality  and  vital  force  — 
the  cause  and  moving  power  of  all  that  followed. 

And  this  is  the  Christian  testimony,  which  every 
believer  has  for  himself  and  for  the  doubting  or 
hostile  world.  I  saw  the  vision,  and  it  made  me 
what  I  am.  The  growing  years,  since  I  saw  it, 
have  witnessed  the  growing  life.  The  forces  of  the 
growing  life  are  still  working,  and  they  are  making 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

the  man.  The  man  within  me,  that  is  made,  is  the 
rcahty  of  all  realities.  No  dream  has  made  it. 
Dreams  fade  away  and  die.  No  empty  vision  has 
made  it.  The  empty  vision  passes  into  nothing- 
ness. It  was  the  meeting  of  my  personal  soul 
with  the  personality  of  Jesus  which  accomplished 
the  result,  and  is  still  accomplishing  it.  I  am  not 
yet  what  I  might  be  or  ought  to  be  —  the  years 
have  not  wrought  in  me  all  that  the  vision  would, 
if  unhindered  in  its  influence,  have  realised.  But  I 
am  something,  and  more  than  I  once  was,  in  the 
life  of  the  soul  that  is  worthy  of  the  vision ;  and 
from  the  depth  of  the  realised  experience  within 
myself  I  say  to  each  and  every  one,  I  would  to 
God  that  you  all  might  become,  in  this  regard, 
what  I  am.  The  life  which  I  now  live,  I  live  in 
faith,  the  faith  which  is  in  the  Son  of  God,  who 
loved  me  and  gave  Himself  for  me.  It  was  a 
beautiful  vision.  It  is  a  glorious  reality.  The  love 
and  the  impulse  came  from  the  vision,  and  they 
make  the  reality.  They  will  make  it  for  you,  as 
they  have  made  it  for  me. 

So  the  Christian  stands  in  the  world,  ever  bearing 
witness  as  the  Apostle  did.  His  witness  has  in  it  a 
Divinely-given  power,  and  it  testifies  for  the  truth 
of  revelation  and  of  experience. 


79 


VI 

IN   NOTHING   BE   ANXIOUS 

In  tiothing  be  anxious;  but  in  everything  by  prayer  and  sup- 
plication, with  thanksgiving,  let  your  requests  be  made 
known  unto  God.  And  the  peace  of  God,  which  passeth  all 
understanding,  shall  guard  your  hearts  and  your  thoughts 
in  Christ  Jesus.  —  Philippians  iv.  6,  7. 

THE  Epistle  from  which  these  words  are  taken 
was  written  near  the  end  of  Paul's  life,  within 
the  two  years  of  his  stay  in  Rome,  the  reference  to 
which  is  found  at  the  close  of  the  Book  of  Acts. 
There  are  many  evidences  in  the  letter  that  he  had 
gathered  into  his  heart  the  lessons  of  a  life-time,  and 
was  now  in  the  calmer  and  quieter  mood  of  advanc- 
ing age.  He  says  that  he  has  learned  in  whatsoever 
state  he  is,  therewith  to  be  content;  that  he  knows 
how  to  be  abased,  and  how  to  abound ;  that  he  can 
do  all  things  through  Him  that  strengtheneth  him ; 
that  he  forgets  the  things  which  are  behind,  and 
presses  on  beyond  them  towards  the  goal ;  that  he 
is  willing  to  have  the  Gospel  preached,  whether  it  be 
by  those  in  sympathy  with  himself  or  those  strongly 
opposed  to  his  views,  if  so  be  that  Christ  is  pro- 
claimed ;  that  he  is  ready  either  to  live  or  to  die,  as 
may  be  best  for  the  cause.     These  things  are,  all  of 

80 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

them,  utterances  which  come  more  naturally  from 
one  who  has  been  long  engaged  in  the  struggle  of 
life,  and  to  whom  the  ambitions,  the  hopes,  and  the 
victories  of  the  earthly  warfare  are  becoming  less 
powerful  in  the  soul  than  they  once  were.  Paul  did 
not  lose  his  energy,  or  his  consecration  to  the  work 
of  Christ,  as  the  years  carried  him  forward  beyond 
the  age  of  sixty.  But  life  became  a  different  thing 
from  what  it  had  been  at  his  entrance  upon  his 
labours;  and  he  looked  upon  it  from  a  different 
standing-place. 

It  is  certainly  fitting,  and  may  well  be  a  matter  of 
interest,  to  contemplate  him  as  he  comes  to  this 
quiet  Christian  feeling  at  the  later  period  —  de- 
veloped, as  it  was,  so  beautifully,  and  so  much  more 
fully  than  it  could  have  been  before.  The  life  under 
the  educating  influence  of  religion  does  not  remain 
always  at  one  stage,  or  in  one  condition,  but  it  grows 
into  greater  richness  and  deeper  power  as  it  moves 
on  from  period  to  period,  until  it  passes  into  the 
perfectness  of  heaven.  But,  as  it  is  ever  growing, 
it  gains  the  truest  views  in  the  later  season  —  unless 
it  suffers  other  and  evil  influences  to  becloud  the 
clear  mental  vision. 

The  verses  which  have  been  chosen  as  the  subject 
of  our  thought  contain  a  most  appropriate  suggestion 
for  a  rule  of  living,  and  one  which  gains  an  especial 
force  because  it  comes  to  us  from  the  earnest  and 
ardent  Apostle  in  the  calmer  and  later  period  of  his 
life.  I  know  of  nothing  in  all  literature  which  gives 
such  a  picture  of  what  our  feeling  and  action  ought 
to  be,  or  is  a  more  beautiful  motto  for  every  man. 
6  8i 


THOUGHTS   OF  AXD  FOR 

In  nothing  be  anxious.  This  is  the  Apostle's 
reflection  of  the  words  of  Christ  in  the  Sermon  on 
the  Mount,  Be  not  anxious  for  the  morrow.  But  it 
bears  the  testimony  of  Paul's  own  life  to  these  words. 
The  words  suggest  what  he  deemed  life  to  be,  in 
the  right  view  of  it;  and  I  am  sure  that  we  must 
hold  that  he  saw  the  truth.  The  view  of  life  here 
on  earth  which  he  had  was,  that  it  was  a  service  like 
that  of  a  commissioned  agent,  or  a  soldier.  The 
plan  of  all  working  was  not  in  the  soldier's  mind. 
It  belonged  to  his  leader.  Labour  and  duty,  there- 
fore, were  the  things  for  him ;  results  pertained  to 
the  sphere  of  another.  Now  anxiety  begins  when 
the  soldier  or  servant  allows  his  thought  to  go 
beyond  his  appointed  work,  and  when  he  demands 
for  his  happiness  success  in  his  own  part  of  the  field, 
and  not  merely  success  in  the  whole  undertaking  at 
the  end  of  all  the  conflict. 

We  see  how  Paul  looked  upon  the  matter  for  him- 
self. He  regarded  himself  and  the  other  teachers 
as  mere  ministers  employed  by  God  in  different 
parts  of  the  one  common  work.  The  station  assigned 
to  each,  the  success  granted  to  each,  was  determined 
by  God.  Whether  as  the  layer  of  foundations,  or 
the  builder  upon  them ;  whether  as  a  preacher  to  the 
Gentiles  where  the  Gospel  had  never  been  carried 
before,  or  a  presiding  presbyter  at  Jerusalem ; 
whether  to  fail  and  be  driven  off  in  one  city,  or  to 
gain  many  converts  in  another;  all  these  things 
alike  were  in  the  Divine  counsels.  What  was  best 
and  wisest  for  the  kingdom,  he  could  not  tell ;  but 
God  who  saw  the  end   from  the  beginning  could. 

82 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

He  would  be  only  the  soldier,  to  go  whither  he  was 
sent,  and  to  do  what  he  was  bidden.  He  would  do 
earnestly  and  enthusiastically  what  he  had  to  do. 
He  would  do  it  hopefully,  also.  He  would  know 
how  to  abound,  when  abundance  came.  But  he 
would  not  be  disheartened  by  failures,  or  let  his  fear 
of  coming  failure,  which  might  indeed  never  come, 
disturb  his  trustfulness  or  his  peace.  His  work  was 
done  to  the  best  of  his  ability.  What  could  he  do 
more?  The  results  must  be  committed  to  a  higher 
wisdom  and  a  mightier  power  than  his  own. 

We,  also,  ought  to  be  living  in  this  way.  It  is  a 
hard  lesson  for  any  of  us  to  learn ;  but  certainly,  as 
the  Apostle  intimates,  it  is  a  peaceful  one  when  it 
is  learned.  Take  the  case  of  your  entrance  upon 
the  work  of  life,  for  example,  or  of  a  call  to  a  par- 
ticular service.  You  may  be  in  some  questioning 
as  to  the  summons  of  duty.  But  if  you  determine 
this  point  as  you  best  may,  and  then  go  forward, 
you  may  joyfully  perform  the  labour  of  each  day  as 
it  comes,  and  believe  that  all  will  be  well  at  the  end. 
And  so  in  all  your  course.  Like  the  daily  bread 
which  we  are  taught  to  ask  for  only  for  a  single  day, 
the  daily  duties  are  to  occupy  the  thoughts.  They 
come  upon  us  clearly  and  plentifully  enough,  with 
each  day  as  it  passes.  They  bear  with  them  the 
Divine  voice,  and  the  Divine  summons.  They  are 
the  private  soldier's  work.  Why  look  beyond  them 
to  uncertain  possibilities  of  the  future,  to  bring  a 
burden  of  distress  upon  the  soul? 

The  Christian  plan  of  living  says  to  every  man : 
Do  what  to-day  calls  for ;   fill    it   with  everything 

83 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

which  it  asks  ;  make  such  preparations  for  the  future 
as  the  work  which  is  under  your  care  demands,  and 
the  probabiHties  of  continued  Hfe  suggest  as  wise. 
But  be  content  when  you  have  clone  this.  Do  not 
hinder  the  efficiency  of  to-day  by  anxiety  for  to- 
morrow. Do  not  make  the  uncertainty  of  results 
which  you  cannot  control  a  burden  upon  your  soul. 
That  this  plan  is  the  right  one  for  limited  beings 
like  ourselves  can  scarcely  be  doubted.  That  it  is 
a  reasonable  one  is  certain,  when  we  observe  the 
facts  of  our  earthly  life.  But,  for  peaccfulncss,  it  is 
the  ojiiy  plan.  The  man  who  makes  it  his  rule  to 
do  the  utmost  that  he  can,  and  ought  to  do,  to-day, 
and  waits  calmly  for  to-morrow,  to  follow  the  same 
course  in  its  work,  must  be  undisturbed.  He  must 
be  in  the  line  of  the  Divine  appointment ;  and  it  is 
only  because  we  forget  this,  that  the  worrying  cares 
and  fears  that  break  in  from  the  future  destroy  our 
happiness  and  our  peace. 

There  is  surely  nothing  grander  than  the  words 
of  the  Apostle  which  have  been  quoted  at  the 
beginning  of  our  discourse.  There  is  nothing  in 
human  experience  which  seems  to  come  forth  more 
truly  from,  or  testify  more  sweetly  of,  the  peace  of 
God  that  passeth  all  understanding.  Filling  each 
day  with  his  duty  as  a  preacher  of  the  Gospel  to  all 
who  would  come  to  him,  he  was  ready  for  whatever 
the  Divine  Master  might  send.  To  live  would  be 
for  him,  as  he  well  knew,  Christ;  to  die  would  be 
gain.  He  could  scarcely  determine  which  to  choose. 
He  was  ready  for  either;  and  ready  to  leave  the 
decision  with  the  wisdom  of  that  loving  Friend  who 

84 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

had  led  him  for  so  many  years,  and  who  had  taught 
him,  by  many  an  experience,  that  the  abounding 
and  the  abasing  alike  wrought  out  results  of  blessing 
at  the  end.  Why  should  not  the  years  have  taught 
him  to  be  anxious  in  nothing? 

But,  while  the  Christian  disciple  fulfils  his  ap- 
pointed duty,  leaving  results  with  God,  and  thus,  so 
far  as  he  accords  in  his  life  with  the  doctrine,  is  free 
from  anxiety  that  burdens  the  heart,  he  is  not  left 
with  no  manifestation  of  God,  or  communion  with 
God.  In  everything,  the  Apostle  adds,  by  prayer 
and  supplication,  with  thanksgiving,  let  your  re- 
quests be  made  known  unto  God.  These  words 
open  before  us  a  most  delightful  representation  of 
Christian  living.  They  show  that,  in  the  course  of 
all  His  work  and  service,  the  Divine  Father  abides 
near  the  believer,  and  is  ready  to  know  and  consi- 
der the  wants,  desires,  and  aspirations  of  his  soul. 
They  encourage  him  to  present  his  thoughts  and 
earnest  wishes  before  God ;  and  they  allow  and  even 
direct  him  to  let  the  range  of  his  supplication  extend 
itself  to  the  whole  circle  of  the  things  that  interest 
his  mind.  The  teaching  of  the  New  Testament  is 
not,  that  we  need  not  or  should  not  be  anxious  for 
anything,  because  there  is  a  destiny  and  fate  which 
we  cannot  change  —  that  we  can  only  perform 
blindly  the  task  which  falls  to  us,  there  being  no 
thought  of  us,  or  care  for  us,  above  ourselves.  But 
it  is,  that  we  may  make  known  our  requests  to  a 
wiser  Friend  —  laying  before  Him  every  pure 
thought,  every  plan  and  purpose  and  hope,  every 

85 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

conception  we  have  of  what  is  best  for  the  success 
of  our  working  —  that  we  have  with  Him  the  inter- 
course of  a  reverential  fellowship ;  —  but  only  that, 
in  the  appreciation  and  acknowledgment  of  His 
wisdom  as  far  greater  than  our  own,  we  commit  the 
decision  to  Him. 

And  this  is  to  be  in  everything,  and  with  giving 
of  thanks.  What  is  prayer,  but  the  communing  of 
the  child  with  his  father?  It  begins,  indeed,  in  the 
earlier  stages  of  the  life,  with  simple  petitions  for 
the  fundamental  and  necessary  things.  It  asks  for 
the  first  forgiveness,  and  the  elementary  teaching, 
and  the  tender  care  of  the  soul.  But  as  the  Chris- 
tian grows  into  maturity,  and  his  thoughts  move 
through  a  wider  circle,  and  his  living  becomes  in 
all  its  parts  a  preparation  for  a  greater  life  in  another 
world,  prayer  rises  into  something  higher.  It  is 
then  the  opening  to  God  of  what  the  mind  is  dwell- 
ing upon,  and  the  meeting  with  Him  in  the  medita- 
tion of  the  soul.  As  the  child,  in  his  later  years, 
when  he  comes  to  the  borders  of  manhood,  enters 
into  a  new  relation  to  his  father,  and  there  is  a  con- 
ferring of  mind  with  mind  on  higher  themes,  so  the 
disciple  finds  his  thoughts  going  out  towards  God  in 
every  line.  He  lets  the  sanctifying  influence  of  the 
Divine  presence  and  communion  rest  upon  all  his 
inner  life. 

There  is,  thus,  no  limitation  imposed  with  regard 
to  any  request  which  can  find  lodgment  in  a  right 
thinking  mind.  But  earthly  and  heavenly  things 
alike  are  the  proper  subjects  of  our  supplication; 
and  where  the  man  outside  of  the   Christian  sphere 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

is  filled  with  anxiety,  the  Christian  is  allowed  to 
present  his  request  for  help  or  success,  while  the 
anxious  feeling  alone  is  put  aside.  We  do  not 
know,  in  our  ordinary  living,  the  full  privilege  of 
prayer;  and  therefore  it  loses  for  us,  oftentimes,  its 
richness  and  its  blessing.  But  when  we  let  it  range 
throughout  the  whole  circle  of  life,  it  makes  God  a 
personal  present  friend  to  us,  —  one  to  whom  we 
can  turn  at  any  moment,  and  one  through  whom  we 
can  rise  above  the  perplexities,  and  lose  the  anxious 
cares  that  press  upon  us. 

Thus  it  is  that  thanksgiving  naturally  comes  into 
the  heart.  The  view  of  the  true  believer  which  the 
Apostle  presents  to  us,  is  this :  The  man  is  placed 
in  a  condition  where  he  cannot  see  the  future.  He 
is,  however,  appointed  to  a  life  which,  in  many  ways, 
takes  hold  upon  that  future.  He  can  realise  it  only 
as  it  comes,  but  he  cannot  fail  to  hope,  or  to  plan 
for  it.  His  mind  reaches  beyond  its  vision.  What 
must  he  do?  He  must  work  as  the  duties  open 
themselves,  but  he  must  leave  the  results.  He  must 
live  the  life  of  trust  and  faith.  But,  as  he  looks  back- 
ward over  what  was  a  little  while  ago  as  uncertain  as 
the  coming  time  now  is,  he  must  observe  the  move- 
ment of  the  Divine  plan  and  be  thankful. 

The  call  of  the  Christian  teaching  is  to  look  be- 
hind us,  as  truly  as  it  is  to  look  before  us.  It  is, 
indeed,  to  have  our  outlook  upon  the  future  wholly 
free  from  anxiety,  as  connected  with  the  review 
of  the  way  by  which  blessings  have  come  to  us  in 
the  past.  No  lesson  of  life  is  more  universal  in  the 
experience  of  the  disciples  of  Christ,  than  that  the 

87 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

overruling  of  God  is  always  towards  good.  Those 
things  which  for  the  present  seem  not  to  be  joyous, 
but  grievous,  work  out  afterwards  the  peaceable 
fruits.  The  darkness  of  the  days  past  has  given 
way  to  the  light  of  to-day.  It  has  how  often,  to 
our  own  appreciation  and  knowledge  now,  been 
itself  the  thing  which  has  brought  the  light,  and 
been  transformed  into  the  light.  And  as  we  get 
more  fully  the  consciousness  that  life  for  each  one 
of  us  is  God's  plan  of  good,  we  may  have  confidence 
that  all  this  is  so  as  truly  in  what  we  do  not  yet  un- 
derstand, as  in  what  we  do.  Acknowledgment  of 
the  goodness  of  God  is,  therefore,  a  part  of  every 
true  prayer ;  and  as  we  utter  our  thanksgiving,  both 
for  what  we  have  always  known  as  blessings,  and 
for  what  we  did  not  once  realise  to  be  such,  but  are 
now  understanding  more  completely,  the  gratitude 
for  the  past  brings  with  it  a  calm  and  loving  com- 
mittal of  the  future  to  Him  who  has  guided  us  all 
the  way  from  the  beginning. 

And  now  the  Apostle  adds  his  word  of  assurance 
and  promise.  If  the  soul  moves  on  in  this  way  — 
in  nothing  allowing  anxious  care  and  fear  to  abide 
within  itself;  in  everything,  with  filial  affection,  and 
with  no  doubtings  as  to  the  freeness  of  the  offer, 
making  known  its  requests ;  in  review  of  the  past, 
giving  thanks  for  the  working  of  all  things  together 
for  good,  and  in  the  outlook  upon  the  future,  asking 
for  what  we  desire,  yet  only  realising  that  our  desire 
afterwards  may  be  opposite  to  what  it  is  now,  when 
we  come  to  see  the  end  —  and  thus  ready  to  leave 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

the  issues  with  Divine  love  and  wisdom; — the 
declaration  is,  that  the  peace  of  God  shall  guard 
the  heart  and  the  thoughts  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  re- 
quires no  word  from  heaven,  to  assure  us  that  there 
must  be  peacefulness  in  the  soul  when  a  man  is 
living  thus.  But  there  is  more  than  a  simple  assur- 
ance of  peacefulness,  in  the  Pauline  sentence.  The 
peace,  it  declares,  will  be  the  peace  of  God.  The 
relation  of  the  Christian  soul  to  God,  at  the  very- 
beginning  of  the  new  life,  involves  as  its  chief 
element,  or  one  of  its  chief  elements  certainly,  a 
peculiar  peacefulness.  It  is  the  peacefulness  of 
reconciliation  and  reunion.  The  forgiveness  of  the 
past  sins  and  the  justification  which  accompanies  it, 
as  the  Apostle  says  elsewhere,  bring  peace  with 
themselves.  But  this  is,  as  it  were,  the  first  expe- 
rience, the  first  consciousness  of  the  child-relation- 
ship to  the  Divine  Father.  With  reference  to  what 
follows  afterwards,  it  is  but  as  the  door  which  opens 
into  the  richer  blessedness  —  the  child's  foretaste  of 
what  is  to  be  realised  in  a  measure,  and  with  a  ful- 
ness beyond  present  imagination,  in  the  long-con- 
tinued and  growing  manhood  of  the  future  years. 
The  peace  here  described  is  that  which  God  gives 
to  the  trusting  soul  in  ever-enlarging  measure,  and 
which  answers  to  His  own  peace.  My  peace,  said 
Jesus  to  the  disciples,  I  give  unto  you.  Not  as  the 
world  giveth,  give  I  unto  you.  The  peace  of  Jesus 
was  that  which  belonged  to  Plim  and  dwelt  within 
Him,  because  of  His  union  of  love  and  purpose 
and  inmost  life  with  God.  It  was  the  peace  which 
pertains  to  communion  of  souls,  and  its  impartation 

89 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

from  one  to  the  other  is  the  result  of  the  fellowship 
of  the  two  — the  measure  of  the  blessing  being  pro- 
portioned to  the  perfectness  of  the  fellowship. 

Into  such  fellowship  the  believer  enters,  who  lives 
after  the  manner  which  Paul  sets  forth.  By  his  trust- 
fulness, by  his  confidence  in  God  which  rises  above 
the  power  and  the  disturbing  influence  of  anxiety, 
by  his  prayer  and  supplication  which  go  out  into  the 
widest  range  of  pure  thought  and  desire,  by  his  ever- 
arising  and  ever-enduring  thankfulness,  he  brings 
his  soul  into  that  harmony  with  the  Divine  which 
makes  the  gift  of  a  peace  like  that  of  God  Himself 
possible  for  his  experience.  This  peace,  in  its  com- 
pleteness in  the  Divine  Father,  is  founded,  as  we 
may  believe,  upon  the  two  great  truths,  that  He 
abides  in  the  light  in  which  there  is  no  darkness  at 
all,  and  is  Himself  this  light,  and  that  He  also  abides 
in  love,  and  is  Himself  love.  The  trustful  soul  does 
not  see  all  things  and  for  this  reason  feel  safe  be- 
yond all  questionings.  It  does  not  have  in  itself  the 
perfection  of  the  life  of  love.  But  it  believes  where 
it  does  not  yet  see,  and  is  moved  to  confidence  and 
steadfast  hope  by  the  love-power  within  itself;  and 
thus  in  the  limitations  of  its  knowledge  it  takes  to 
itself  its  measure  of  what  God  has  and  of  what  God 
bestows.  Its  peace  becomes  like  that  of  Jesus, 
which  dwelt  in  His  soul  always,  and  was,  even  in  the 
darkest  hours,  calm  as  the  calmness  of  the  ocean's 
depths,  because  He  knew  the  storms  of  life  to  be 
under  His  Father's  power,  and  therefore  without  the 
ability  to  shake  or  disturb  the  trusting  heart. 

This  peace  it  is,  which  the  Apostle  declares  shall 
90 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

be  with    the  prayerful,  grateful  Christian,  who  lays 
aside  his  anxious  fears  and  doubts. 

But  there  is  one  peculiar  word  in  the  assurance 
set  before  us  in  the  Pauline  expression,  which  seems, 
in  a  sense,  to  involve  the  force  of  the  promise.  The 
peace  of  God,  he  says,  shall  guard  your  hearts  and 
your  thoughts.  The  figure  is  that  of  a  city  guarded 
from  its  enemies,  or  of  a  fortress,  where  the  disciple 
is  protected,  as  by  an  irresistible  power,  from  all 
assaults  from  without.  The  thoughts  and  the  whole 
sphere  of  the  heart  and  mind  will  be  kept  secure 
from  disturbing  forces  of  uncertainty,  or  appre- 
hension, or  distress  in  view  of  the  future.  "Thou 
shalt  keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed 
upon  thee."  The  heavenly  existence  is  begun  al- 
ready for  the  man  who  has  truly  and  fully  come  into 
this  peace,  guarded  by  the  Divine  presence  and 
guarding  every  thought  in  the  sphere  of  Christ's  own 
living.  It  is  realised,  in  some  measure,  just  as  the 
soul  enters  into  the  trust  that  turns  away  anxiety 
and  makes  prayer  and  thankfulness  the  atmosphere 
of  its  life. 

The  years  are  steadily  moving  on,  and  they  are 
rapidly  passing  away.  What  are  they  teaching  us? 
More  and  more,  surely,  of  the  uncertainty  of  life  ; 
more  and  more  of  the  unsatisfactoriness  of  it,  if  there 
is  nothing  beyond.  The  men  who  were  a  little  way 
before  us,  and  who  have  suddenly  passed  within  the 
region  of  the  unseen,  are  testifying  to  us  of  what  we 
are  learning  for  ourselves  —  that  the  things  of  this 

91 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

world,  good,  and  valuable,  and  worthy  of  thought  as 
they  may  be,  are  only  preparatory  to  something 
higher  and  future.  The  manly  way  of  living,  there- 
fore, is  not  that  of  absorption  in  these  things,  as  if 
these  were  all,  but  that  of  using  them  for  what  they 
may  help  us  to  attain.  Life  thus  teaches  us  that 
they  belong  to  a  single  and  passing  stage  of  our 
being,  and  that  it  is  what  they  prepare  us  for  in 
character  and  service,  which  gives  them  their  true 
meaning.  To  be  anxious  for  them  in  themselves,  is 
like  living  for  the  day,  and  not  for  life.  To  be  over- 
burdened with  trouble  respecting  what  they  may 
bring  in  the  immediate  future,  is  to  forget  that  the 
temporary  loss  or  trial  in  human  experience  often 
transforms  itself  into  glorious  blessing.  It  is  to 
make  the  future  subordinate  to  the  present,  for  we 
lose  sight  of  what  the  present  may  do  for  the 
future,  and  lose  care  for  it. 

I  cannot  but  think  that,  as  life  moves  on,  the  man 
who  lives  aright  sees  more  clearly  that  he  is  in  a 
process  of  education,  and  understands  more  fully 
that  he  is  dependent  for  wisdom  and  guidance  on  a 
higher  power.  We  know,  in  the  retirement  of  our 
own  souls,  that  we  are  limited,  weak,  and  ignorant 
beings,  whose  knowledge  and  vision  reach  but  a  lit- 
tle way.  How  can  peace  come  to  us,  except  through 
committing  our  way  to  the  Divine  Father,  and  losing 
our  anxiety  in  prayer  to  Him  for  the  future,  and 
grateful  feeling  for  the  past? 

The  Apostle  to  the  Gentiles  had  a  manly  soul,  if 
any  one  ever  had.  He  was  earnest  in  labour  ;  ar- 
dent in  feeling ;  enthusiastic  as  a  youth,  through  all 

92 


THE   IiYNER   LIFE 

his  life ;  intensely  full  of  energy  for  the  completion 
of  his  work  before  the  end ;  hopeful  for  the  future, 
and  burning  with  desire  that  it  should  bring  triumph 
to  the  cause.  But  he  died  while  the  victory  was  still 
in  the  distant  and  unseen  coming  age;  yet  he  had 
no  doubts;  no  cloud  gathered  over  his  spirit;  no 
weariness  made  him  ready  to  lay  down  his  work  in 
despair,  for  another  to  take  it.  He  finished  his 
course  with  the  same  confidence  with  which  he  had 
passed  through  it.  He  went  away  from  the  peace 
of  earth,  as  his  soul  had  experienced  it  in  Jesus 
Christ,  to  the  peace  of  heaven.  But  it  was  here,  as 
it  was  to  be  there,  a  peace  that  had  no  anxious  fore- 
bodings—  the  peace  which  passes  all  understanding 
—  the  peace  of  God,  which  kept  his  heart  and 
guarded  every  thought.  A  grand  living  and  a 
grand  dying  —  like  that  of  the  Master  Himself. 
What  a  blessedness  for  us,  if  it  may  be  ours  also  ! 
The  lesson  is  a  Divine  one,  full  of  love ;  —  but  it  is 
a  difficult  one  to  learn.  I  commend  it  to  all  others, 
and  to  myself. 


93 


VII 

THE   TRUE  LIFE   OF   MAN   NOT   IN    HIS 
POSSESSIONS 

A  mail's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance  of  the  things 
which  he possesseth.  —  Luke  xii.  15. 

THIS  sentence  is  also  translated,  and  perhaps 
more  properly :  A  man's  life,  even  if  he  have 
abundance,  does  not  consist  in  what  he  possesses. 
In  cither  case  —  only  that  there  is  a  certain 
greater  emphasis  with  the  latter  rendering  —  the 
declaration  is  the  same  :  —  that  life  is  not  to  be 
found  in  what  a  man  has,  however  abundant  what  he 
has  may  be,  but  in  something  independent  of  this. 

One  of  the  multitude  accompanying  Jesus  at  the 
time,  and  listening  to  His  teachings,  said  to  Him : 
Master,  bid  my  brother  divide  the  inheritance  with 
me.  Jesus  reminded  him,  in  answer  to  his  request, 
that  it  was  not  a  part  of  His  mission  in  the  world  as 
the  Christ  to  pass  judicial  decisions  in  such  matters, 
and  then,  perceiving  the  motive  which  had  impelled 
the  man  in  his  demand.  He  turned  to  the  people 
about  Him,  and  addressed  to  them  these  words: 
Do  not  be  ever  desiring  and  striving  to  have  more 
than  you  already  have.  The  gaining  of  more  does 
not  bring  you   life.     Even   if  you   gain  more,  and 

94 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

much  more  —  up  to  the  limits  of  great  abundance  — 
life,  in  case  you  then  have  it,  will  not  consist  in 
what  you  have  gained.  Life  is  something  deeper 
and  more  personal  than  this.  It  is,  like  the  king- 
dom of  God  itself,  not  around  you,  but  within  you. 

This  is  the  Christian  doctrine  concerning  life,  and 
it  is  in  accordance  with  all  analogies,  and  with  all 
that  we  know.  Among  the  questions  of  these 
recent  days,  one  which  awakens  greatest  interest  is. 
What  is  life?  The  search  which  is  pressed  further 
than  all  other  searchings  is  that  which  seeks  to  dis- 
cover it.  We  would  lay  our  hands  upon  life,  and 
determine  its  nature  and  its  essence.  It  eludes  our 
grasp,  indeed,  and  leaves  us  in  disputation.  We 
are  compelled  to  wait  for  the  future  to  answer  our 
questioning,  or  to  acknowledge  the  possibility  that 
no  answer  may  ever  be  given.  But  however  we 
may  divide  in  our  thoughts  about  it,  or  whatever 
may  be  the  measure  of  our  knowledge  or  fancied 
knowledge,  there  is  one  thing  revealed  to  us  the 
more  clearly  and  impressively,  the  further  we  carry 
forward  our  investigations.  This  one  thing  is  told 
us,  each  and  all  alike.  It  is,  that  life  lies  back  of 
anything  which  we  have  yet  discovered.  We  know 
life's  acquisitions,  its  activities,  its  varied  revelations 
of  itself.  But  it  is  not  itself  these,  or  in  these  alone. 
It  has  a  being  of  its  own,  and  moves  and  gains  by  its 
own  vital  force.  The  movement  is  not  itself.  It  is 
the  outreaching  of  its  energy  towards  and  after  that 
which  will  minister  to  its  growth,  or  enjoyment,  or 
well-being.     But  the  life  precedes  the  motion.     The 

95 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

gains,  also,  are  not  the  life.  They  are  additions  to 
it,  in  one  form  or  another  —  sometimes  near  its 
inmost  self,  far  more  often  quite  outside  of  it,  and 
never,  and  nowhere,  of  its  own  primal  and  indepen- 
dent essence.  Life  by  its  living  power  gains  for,  or 
even  in,  itself;  but  its  existence  is  the  condition  of 
the  forthputting  of  the  power  which  gains.  It  is 
the  source  of  the  power,  as  well  as  of  that  which  the 
power  secures. 

All  this  is  true,  moreover,  not  only  in  the  physical 
sphere,  within  which  the  questioning  is  so  often 
and  so  urgently  raised,  but  in  every  sphere.  The 
essence  of  the  intellectual  life  of  the  student,  in  any 
department  of  learning,  is  not  to  be  found  in  that 
which  he  brings  into  his  mind  by  his  studies,  or  in 
the  act  of  his  studying.  These  things  are  the  results 
of  the  life.  They  are  the  evidences  of  its  existence, 
it  may  be.  But  they  are  not  the  life  itself.  Let  a 
man  examine  himself,  and  he  may  know  this.  You 
and  I,  if  we  enter  into  the  realisation  of  our  souls' 
deepest  experience,  do  not  rejoice  as  men  of  living 
minds  in  what  we  have  acquired  of  learning  or 
knowledge,  within  the  last  week  or  the  last  year,  as 
if  this  were  the  most  joyful  thing.  We  rejoice  in 
the  living  mind  which  acquired  for  itself  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  past  time,  and  which  may  acquire  for 
itself  far  different  knowledge,  and  far  more,  in  the 
future  time.  However  abundant  the  acquisitions 
may  be,  we  know  that  they  are  added  to  ourselves 
—  possessions  which  we  have  gained  —  things 
which  we  have  made  our  own.  But  the  thing  which 
is  gained  is  not  a  blessing  like  the  thing  by  which  it 

96 


THE   INXER  LIFE 

is  gained.  The  former  may  pass  away  perchance, 
or  may  lose  itself  in  what  is  greater  and  comes 
afterward,  or  may  prove  itself  to  be  almost  useless 
at  times.  But  the  latter  is  ever-abiding.  It  is  a 
power  through  whose  energy  losses  may  be  repaired, 
new  and  ever-enlarging  acquirements  may  be  brought 
into  the  possession  of  the  life,  the  development  even 
of  itself  may  become  continually  greater.  The 
knowledge  which  the  mind  possesses  is  one  thing. 
The  knowing  mind  is  another  and  far  better  thing. 
It  is  better  and  grander,  because  it  can  gather  into 
itself  all  the  possibilities  of  the  other;  and  because 
the  life  is  in  it,  and  not  in  the  other.  The  central 
blessing  which  we  have  as  educated  men,  is  the  in- 
tellectual life.  Forth  from  this  centre  moves  every 
energy  which  fills  the  life  with  its  possessions. 

The  moral  and  spiritual  life  follows,  as  it  were, 
the  same  law  of  our  being.  It  is  to  be  discovered, 
if  discovered  at  all,  in  the  deep  recesses  of  the  man, 
far  away  from  and  below  all  external  things.  It  is 
the  breath  of  God,  which  is  breathed  into  the  man 
as  he  first  enters  upon  the  sphere  where  these  things 
have  their  being.  It  is  the  inspiration  of  the  Divine 
nature  within  him,  by  which  he  is  made  fit  for  a 
purer  and  higher  atmosphere  than  that  of  the  evil 
and  passing  world.  It  is  most  truly  a  life  from 
above,  imparted  to  him  and  implanted  within  him. 
It  must  therefore,  in  a  pre-eminent  degree,  be  an 
energising  force,  which  gains  great  things  for  itself, 
but  which  is  independent  of  these  things.  They 
are  what  it  has.  It  is  what  it  is.  They  are  the 
fruits  which  it  puts  forth  —  the  possessions  which  it 
7  97 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

places,  it  may  be,  in  closest  relation  to  itself,  and 
uses  for  its  own  development  —  the  glorious  mani- 
festion  of  what  it  contains  within  itself,  perchance, 
and  thus  the  revealing  of  itself  to  the  eye  that  sees. 
But  it  is  the  God-given  principle— the  power  that 
worketh  all  things. 

But  if  life,  in  any  department  of  our  being,  is  not 
to  be  discovered  in  what  it  gains  for  itself,  much 
less  even,  it  would  seem,  can  life  in  one  department 
consist  in  the  possessions  secured  by  life  in  another 
department.  The  intellectual  life,  surely,  cannot 
have  its  being  in  that  which  the  physical  life 
acquires  by  the  forthputting  of  its  peculiar  powers. 
It  must  move  in  its  own  sphere,  and  reach  out  after 
what  may  satisfy  its  own  desires.  The  forces  of  the 
two  lives  work  along  different  lines.  They  may  in- 
deed co-operate  with  each  other,  in  some  degree,  so 
that  the  gains  of  the  former  may  be  larger  by 
reason  of  what  the  latter  has  done  for  itself.  But  if 
this  be  the  fact  in  any  case,  the  things  which  the 
one  life  is  partly  enabled  to  secure  through  the  aid 
of  the  other  are  essentially  unlike  anything  which 
that  other  knows  as  its  own  possession.  The  re- 
wards of  the  mind  belong  within  the  sphere  of 
mental  effort  and  working,  and  this  sphere  is  not 
that  of  the  physical  powers,  even  when  these, 
by  reason  of  the  mysterious  union  of  body  and 
mind,  may  quicken  or  strengthen  the  mental  effort. 
Indeed,  so  true  is  this,  that  we  often  find  the  one 
life  active  while  the  other  is  not,  or  the  energy 
which  is  put  forth  in  the  line  of  the  one  so  exclu- 

98 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

sively  taking  possession  of  the  man,  as  it  were,  that 
there  is  a  corresponding  loss  of  power  in  the  line  of 
the  other.  One  of  the  great  difficulties  in  every 
man's  work  for  himself  is  to  adjust  the  two  in  their 
mutual  relations,  and  thus  to  guard  successfully 
against  the  danger  of  losing  the  life  in  one  sense, 
while  it  is  saved  in  another.  This,  indeed,  is  a 
problem  of  chief  importance  in  all  education — a 
problem  in  connection  with  which  the  successes  and 
failures  alike  show  the  one  truth,  that  each  life 
must  gain  for  itself,  and  cannot  consist  in,  or  depend 
upon,  what  the  other  gains. 

We  may  compare  the  spiritual  life,  again,  with 
either  of  the  other  two,  and  the  truth  will  manifest 
itself,  only  if  possible  the  more  clearly.  The  spirit- 
ual life  is  character.  Its  gains  are  gains  in  virtue, 
and  purity,  and  the  development  of  all  goodness. 
How  can  its  living  force  be  found  in  knowledge,  or 
physical  strength  or  beauty,  or  in  anything  which 
may  be  secured  for  the  man  without  building  up 
the  moral  part  of  him? 

The  story  in  the  Gospel  from  which  our  verse  is 
taken  may  reveal  the  fact  to  us.  Jesus  was  speak- 
ing of  the  spiritual  life,  when  He  used  these  words. 
The  man  who  had  come  to  Him  — with  the  strange 
request,  as  it  would  seem,  to  be  made  of  such  a 
teacher  —  was  thinking  of  the  inheritance  which 
pertained  to  his  family.  It  was  houses  and  lands 
and  goods  of  every  sort  —  possessions,  in  the  sense 
in  which  we  use  the  word  in  our  ordinary  conver- 
sation—  that  he  was  thinking  of  and  asking  for. 
An  abundance  greater  than  what  he  at  present  had 

99 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

was  the  object  which  he  desired  ;   and  seeing  plainl}- 
where  it  was,  and  how  it  might  be  at  once  secured, 
he  presented  the  case  to  Jesus  for  His  aid.     What 
were  his  thoughts  respecting  hfe?     They  were  cer- 
tainly thoughts  concerning  it  as  moving,  and  having 
its  being,  in  one  sphere  only  —  that  of  the' abun- 
dance of  the  things  possessed  through  the  inheri- 
tance of  an  estate.     But  how  could  it  be  possible  to 
discover  the  life  which  Jesus  thought  of  simply  in 
such  abundance?     The  things  which  made  up  the 
inheritance  had   been   acquired    by  the  powers   of 
another  sort  of  life  than  this.     They  were  independ- 
ent of  it,  and  it  was  independent  of  them.     They 
might  pass  into  the  possession  of  the  man  without 
touching  the    character,    whether   for    good  or  for 
evil.     They  might  even   impoverish   the  character, 
while   they   enlarged     the    estate.      It    is   evident, 
indeed,  that  in  the  case  of  this  man  such  impover- 
ishment was  the  result  which  was  distinctly  foreseen. 
The  life,  therefore,  could  not  consist  in  the  abun- 
dance   of  the    possessions.      It   might,    perchance, 
co-exist  with  such  abundance,  even   for  this  man, 
if  he  would  take  into  himself  the  true  idea,  and  live 
by  it ;  but,  whether  he  should  do  so  or  not,  it  could 
not  consist  in  it.     It  could  not,  because  the  life  and 
the  abundance  were  widely  and  essentially  separate 
from  each  other.     The  abundance  was  an  acquire- 
ment of  the   mental  or  physical    life,   or  both  to- 
gether ;  but  the  life   now  thought  of  was  spiritual, 
and  pertained    to  the   soul.     The  life  of  the  soul, 
surely,  the  central  part  of  the  man,  cannot  be  the 
external  possessions  of  a  less  central  life.     It  cannot 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

depend  on  houses,  and  lands,  and  rich  inheritance, 
and  the  right  sharing  of  ancestral  property.  It  hes 
back  even  of  what  it  gains  for  itself  by  the  exercise 
of  its  own  powers.  Surely,  it  must  lie  far  away  from 
what  is  gained  by  powers  other  than  its  own,  and 
from  that  abundance  of  which  it  knows  nothing  and 
thinks  nothing  within  its  own  sphere. 

For  this  reason  it  was,  that  Jesus  said  to  the 
people  who  were  standing  by  Him :  Keep  )'our- 
selves  carefully  from  the  overweening,  all-control- 
ling desire  for  abundance  of  possessions.  The 
thing  to  be  desired,  with  the  all-controlling  move- 
ment of  the  soul,  is  life.  Take  heed  —  the  life  is  in 
one  place,  the  abundance  in  another;  and  when 
the  desire  for  the  abundance  becomes  an  inordinate 
desire,  the  life  is  lost.  How  true  His  words  are  to 
human  experience  —  and  how  true  they  are  also, 
when  He  points  forward  to  the  future  and  gives 
another  reason  why  the  life  does  not  consist  in  the 
possessions.  The  little  illustrative  story  that  follows 
tells  of  the  ending  of  the  one,  and  the  continuance 
of  the  other.  The  life  moves  onward,  and  the 
abundance  falls  away.  The  gain  which  the  powers 
have  secured  in  one  department  of  the  man's  liv- 
ing is  a  treasure  which  may  be  lost  for  him  in  a 
day.  The  ever-living  life  of  the  man,  certainly, 
must  be  independent  of  this,  and  must  be  separate 
and  distinct  from  it,  however  abundant  it  may  be. 

This  indeed  it  is,  which  glorifies  us  as  men.  We 
are  ourselves,  in  every  line,  greater  and  deeper  than 
anything  that  we  have  gained  outside  of  ourselves. 
We  live,  and  the  gains  pass  away  or  are  forgotten. 


THOUGHTS   OF  AiVD  FOR 

They  pass  away  because  of  the  earth  and  time,  or 
they  are  forgotten  by  reason  of  the  far  greater  ones 
that  we  make  for  ourselves  afterwards.  But  we 
move  on,  with  hving  power,  beyond  them  and 
above  them.  The  hfe  of  to-day,  for  each  one  of  us, 
is  not  found  in  the  abundance  which  we  secured  ten 
years  ago.  No  more  is  it  in  that  which  we  now 
possess.  The  abundance  is  dying,  it  may  be,  but 
we  are  hving.  The  abundance  is  of  this  world,  but 
we  are  taking  hold  in  our  life  upon  what  is  higher 
than  this  world.  The  immortal  part  cannot  consist 
in  the  mortal  part.  Most  truly  it  cannot  have  its 
life  in  what  the  mortal  part  only  possesses. 

These  thoughts  are  clear  to  us,  so  soon  as  we 
give  them  a  lodgment  in  our  minds.  They  seem 
so  plain,  perhaps,  as  scarcely  to  need  any  expres- 
sion. Of  course,  we  are  prompted  to  say,  Of 
course,  life  is  different  from  the  gains  of  life,  and 
life  in  one  sphere  cannot  be  made  out  of  the  acqui- 
sitions of  life  in  another  sphere.  But  how  many 
are  there  in  any  company  of  men  who  bear  within 
themselves  the  thought  —  and  give  it  a  practical 
realisation  in  their  daily  thinking  —  that  they  are 
themselves  more  than  all  that  they  are  doing,  or 
gaining,  or  making  their  own,  and  that  their  life  is 
behind  and  beneath  all  these  things?  The  mass  of 
men  about  us  are  like  the  man  who  came,  at  this 
time,  to  Jesus.  They  are  pressing  after  the  posses- 
sions—  seeking  after  the  inheritance  —  struggling 
for  a  division  of  it  —  striving  everywhere  for  more. 
It  is  the  additions  to  the  life,  which  fill  their  minds 

102 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

and  impel  their  efforts.  Happiness  is  to  be  found 
in  these  additions,  for  it  is  these  which  give  com- 
fort and  restfuhiess  and  freedom  from  all  burdens, 
it  is  said  :  One  may  well  sacrifice  all  else  for  these, 
and  put  forth  the  labour  of  years  to  secure  them. 
Perhaps  no  age  in  the  world's  history  has  been 
more  full  of  such  thoughts  than  the  one  which  is 
now  opening  upon  us.  This  influence  is  work- 
ing rapidly  into  the  minds  of  educated  men,  and 
they  are  beginning  everywhere  to  feel  that  life 
needs  more  of  what  is  external,  if  its  perfect 
ideal  is  to  be  attained.  Even  the  student  moves 
after  wealth  as  one  of  the  greatest  things  —  or  if 
perhaps  not  after  this,  after  station,  and  comfortable 
place,  and  large  fame,  as  if  these  were  the  main 
ends  of  living.  Everything  centres,  as  it  were,  in 
what  one  has ;  and  so  the  desire  to  have  more  lays 
ever  stronger  hold  upon  the  soul. 

The  message  which  comes  over  the  ages  to  us, 
in  the  midst  of  our  thinking,  is  the  word  which 
came  to  this  man.  The  life  is  not  in  the  posses- 
sions. It  is  elsewhere.  It  is  no  more  in  them 
when  they  are  abundant,  than  it  is  when  they  arc 
scanty.  It  has,  so  far  as  its  essence  and  central 
forces  are  concerned,  nothing  to  do  with  them. 
It  may  use  them,  but  they  are  not  itself.  It  may 
enjoy  what  they  may  enable  it  to  secure,  but  it  may 
have  its  true  enjoyment  without  them,  as  well  as 
with  them.  It  is,  in  the  widest  and  deepest  mean- 
ing of  the  expression,  one  thitig,  while  they  are 
a7iother. 

To  educated  men  this  message  may  have  an 
103 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

especial  emphasis,  for  their  own  experience  may 
tell  them  somewhat  of  its  truth.  The  true  student 
knows,  when  he  comes  to  himself  in  his  thinking, 
that  his  peculiar  life  is  within,  not  without  himself 
—  that  he  is  independent  of  lands  and  houses  and 
the  external  gifts  for  which  so  many  seek  —  that 
the  treasure  of  his  mind  and  soul  is  the  treasure  of 
knowledge  and  thought.  He  may  live  anywhere, 
and  this  treasure  abides  with  him.  He  may  share 
the  inheritance  and  gain  the  abundance,  or  not,  and 
the  essential  life  is  the  same.  But  even  the  edu- 
cated man  may  lose  the  power  of  the  lesson.  The 
Christian  teaching  is  needed  for  him,  as  it  is  needed 
for  all,  while  it  utters  its  voice  concerning  a  life 
deeper  than  his,  as  it  is  also  deeper  than  that  of 
those  who  live  wholly  in  the  outward  possessions. 
The  life  is  the  central  thing  in  the  man.  It  is  what 
makes  the  man  in  his  manhood ;  —  not  in  his  learn- 
ing, not  in  his  inheritance,  not  in  his  wealth,  but  in 
his  manhood.  And  the  manhood  alone  is  tJie  essence 
of  the  man.  This  is  what  Jesus  taught  the  people. 
This  is  the  great  truth  of  the  matter.  Take  heed. 
He  says,  and  do  not  forget  it.  Keep  yourselves 
from  the  ever-continuing  desire  for  more,  as  if  in 
the  possessing  of  more  the  secret  of  the  life  were 
to  be  discovered. 

My  friend,  you  are,  perchance,  preparing  in  your 
earlier  years  for  the  future  —  for  your  own  future. 
You  believe  in  that  future ;  you  anticipate  it  joy- 
fully and  hopefully ;  you  feel,  in  your  most  thought- 
ful moments,  that  it  is  far  better  and  far  more  than 
the  present,  and  that  your  life  is  in  it.     What  is  the 

104 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

end  in  view  of  your  preparation?  Is  it  to  be  soine- 
thiiig,  or  to  have  souictJiing?  If  the  primary  object 
is,  to  have  something,  your  years  and  efforts  will  be 
given  to  gaining  possessions  of  one  kind  or  another. 
Your  desires  will  continually  be  for  more,  and  the 
result,  if  you  are  successful,  will  be  additions  to 
yourself  —  additions  in  the  outward  sphere,  and  in 
the  field  of  the  abundance  of  which  Jesus  was  speak- 
ing. But  you  will  be  working  away  from  the  centre, 
and  may  be  losing,  daily,  more  and  more  of  that 
which  abides  there.  The  inheritance  of  the  man  in 
the  story  would  have  been  secured  to  him,  we  may 
believe,  if  Jesus  had  yielded  to  his  request  and 
bidden  the  brother  give  him  his  rightful  portion. 
He  would  have  lived  on  his  estate,  and  stored  his 
possessions,  and  laid  up  his  treasure  ever  more 
abundantly  for  himself,  and  found  the  wishes  of  the 
early  days  fulfilled.  But  the  abundance  v/ould  have 
been  around  him,  not  within  him.  Within  him,  if 
we  may  listen  to  the  suggestion  of  the  narrative, 
would  have  been  one  of  the  baser  of  the  passions  — 
and  constantly  increasing  in  its  strength  —  the  un- 
satisfied desire  for  more ;  covetousness,  as  the 
Scriptural  word  describes  it.  The  outward  things 
would  have  been  growing,  but  the  inward  things  — 
so  far  as  they  were  worthy  of  a  noble  manhood  — 
would  have  been  steadily  diminishing  and  dying 
away,  while,  in  place  of  them,  would  have  been 
rising  into  being  and  victorious  power  evil  affections 
and  impulses  destructive  of  the  true  life.  The  liv- 
ing in  the  one  sphere  would  have  been  attended 
by  the   dying  in  the  other,  and  the  manhood  of 

105 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

the  man  would  have  been  gradually  ruined  and 
lost. 

There  are  men  of  the  highest  positions  in  the 
world,  at  this  moment  —  strange  to  say,  there  are 
men  whose  educated  life  should,  by  its  most  im- 
pressive lessons,  be  giving  them  a  nobler  inspiration 

—  of  whom  this  melancholy  truth  is  as  true  as  it 
was,  or  could  have  been,  of  the  man  in  the  Gospel 
story.  Their  manhood  is  perishing,  while  their 
fame  or  wealth  is  growing.  The  inward  life  is  dying, 
while  the  outward  life  is  continually  gathering  more 
into  its  forces  and  its  gifts.  But  the  man  comes  to 
himself  now  and  again,  in  some  serious  hour  of  self- 
contemplation,  or  he  will  come  to  himself  in  the 
future,  —  and  then  he  knows,  or  will  know,  where 
the  life  is  —  not  in  the  abundance,  but  in  the  man- 
hood. If  the  manhood  is  gone,  the  abundance  has 
no  vital  source  beneath  it.  The  things  possessed 
are  worthless  when  the  possessor  is  nothing. 

But,  with  the  life  in  its  living  force,  the  man  is 
triumphant.  He  finds  in  every  place  enough  of  duty 
and  service  for  the  exercise  of  all  his  powers.  He 
finds  in  himself  an  ever-springing  fountain  of  thought 
and  love.  He  sees  the  divinely-implanted  seed 
growing  within  him,  and  yielding  its  fruit  day  by 
day.     He  knows  himself  to  be  what  he  ought  to  be 

—  not  all  that  he  ought  to  be,  perchance,  or  all  that 
he  hopes  to  be,  but  moving  towards  it;  —  living 
within  himself,  and  therefore  to  live  always. 

How  fitting  it  seems  that,  just  after  this  story  and 
the  parable  that  accompanies  it,  the  evangelist  should 

io6 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

place  the  words  which  Jesus  addressed  to  the  dis- 
ciples :  Therefore  I  say  unto  you,  Be  not  anxious 
for  your  life,  what  ye  shall  eat ;  nor  yet  for  your 
body,  what  ye  shall  put  on.  For  the  life  is  more 
than  the  food,  and  the  body  than  the  raiment.  Seek 
ye  God's  kingdom  and  His  righteousness,  and  these 
things  shall  be  added  unto  you.  Where  your  treas- 
ure is,  there  will  your  heart  be  also.  Fear  not,  little 
flock ;  it  is  your  Father's  good  pleasure  to  give  you 
the  kingdom. 

It  is  the  kingdom  for  which  we  should  ever  be 
preparing,  for  the  abundance  of  the  life  itself  is 
there.  All  else  is  an  addition,  but  the  life  is  the 
man.  All  else  may  pass  away,  but  the  life  moves 
on  to  the  greater  life  beyond.  All  else  may  be  laid 
aside  or  forgotten,  without  a  permanent  loss  to  the 
soul,  but  the  life  is  yourself.  Take  heed,  says  the 
Master,  the  life  is  not  in  the  world ;  it  is  more  than 
the  world.  It  is  infinitely  better  to  gain  it,  than  to 
gain  the  world.  It  is  infinitely  sad  to  lose  it,  for  it 
is  the  loss  of  the  man. 


107 


VIII 

THE   FOLLOWING   OF  CHRIST 

Follow  me.  —  John  i.  43. 

[The  entire  verse  reads  as  follows  :  On  the  morrow  he  was 
minded  to  go  forth  info  Galilee,  and  he  findeth  Philip:  and 
Jesus  saith  unto  him,  Follow  me.] 

THE  passage  from  which  these  words  are  taken 
as  the  subject  of  our  thought  is  the  first  one 
in  the  order  of  the  biographical  record  of  the  career 
of  Jesus,  in  which  they  are  found.  We  meet  them, 
however,  in  six  other  places,  as  we  move  forward  in 
our  reading  of  the  Gospel  story  from  its  beginning 
towards  its  ending,  and  we  find  them  unfolding 
their  meaning  to  us  as  they  are  spoken  on  different 
occasions  and  are  addressed  to  different  persons. 
They  involve  the  one  central  demand  and  call  of 
the  Christian  life  —  the  words  remaining  always  the 
same; — but  they  suggest  more  and  more  of  the 
detail  of  duty,  and  indicate  the  varied  applications 
of  the  call,  when  the  several  narratives  in  which 
they  occur  are  gathered  together  in  one,  as  it  were, 
and  they  are  viewed  in  comparison  with  each 
other. 

To   the  young   ruler  who    asked    Him   what    he 
should  do  to  inherit  eternal  life,  Jesus  said.  Go,  sell 

108 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

that  thou  hast,  and  give  to  the  poor,  and  thou  shalt 
have  treasure  in  heaven  :  and  come,  follow  me.  To 
the  man  who  proposed  to  begin  his  service  and 
discipleship,  but  asked  for  delay  that  he  might  first 
go  and  bury  his  father,  the  answer  was,  Follow  me; 
and  leave  the  dead  to  bury  their  own  dead.  To 
Matthew,  who  was  in  the  ordinary  business  of  his 
life  as  a  tax-gatherer,  the  sudden  and  abrupt  sum- 
mons came  —  possibly  without  any  previous  intima- 
tion of  such  a  change  —  to  leave  his  occupation, 
and  be  a  new  man  in  a  new  work.  Jesus  saw  him 
sitting  at  the  place  of  toll,  says  the  evangelist,  and 
said  unto  him.  Follow  me ;  and  he  arose  and  fol- 
lowed him.  Philip,  whom  John  mentions  in  the 
verse  selected  for  our  text,  was  found  by  Jesus, 
perhaps  accidentally,  and  was  asked  to  join  the  two 
disciples  who  had  met  Him  on  the  day  before,  and 
to  accompany  Him  on  His  return  to  Galilee.  Fol- 
low me  was  to  him,  as  to  them,  an  invitation  to  form 
the  acquaintance  of  Jesus,  and  to  come  under 
those  influences  which  might  lead  to  faith  and  dis- 
cipleship. Peter  and  Andrew,  James  and  John,  two 
of  whom,  and  perhaps  all  of  whom,  had  thus  been 
summoned  to  acquaintanceship,  and  to  the  friendly 
study  of  Jesus'  character  and  claims,  in  the  earlier 
days,  were  afterwards,  by  the  same  words,  Follow 
me,  bidden  to  enter  upon  the  Apostolic  office,  and 
become  permanent  associates  of  the  Master,  whom 
they  had  already  learned  to  love,  in  His  proclama- 
tion of  the  kingdom.  One  of  these  four — the 
leader  of  them  all  —  heard  the  bidding  once  more, 
when  the  ministry  of  Jesus  had  come  to  its  end  and 

109 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

the  rising  from  the  dead  had  given  its  witness  to 
His  power.  The  Lord  told  him  of  what  was  await- 
ing him  in  the  future,  and  of  the  manner  of  his 
death,  and  then  said  to  him,  Follow  me  —  words 
which  were  repeated,  a  few  moments  afterward,  in 
answer  to  his  question  with  respect  to  John's  com- 
ing experience  and  destiny :  If  I  will  that  he  tarry 
till  I  come,  what  is  that  to  thee?     Follow  thou  me. 

Finally,  we  discover  the  same  call  and  bidding  in 
that  last  prophetic  utterance  of  Jesus,  when  He  was 
reminded,  by  the  desire  of  certain  Greeks  to  see 
Him,  and  talk  with  Him,  of  the  universal  triumph  of 
His  kingdom.  Turning  the  thought  of  Andrew  and 
Philip,  the  very  disciples  whom  He  had  met  on  the 
first  two  days  of  His  working,  to  the  great  fundamen- 
tal principle  of  self-sacrifice.  He  uttered  the  com- 
prehensive sentence,  applicable  to  all  who  would 
hear  His  voice,  If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  fol- 
low me.  These  are  the  several  recorded  instances 
in  which  the  words  were  used.  What  may  we  say  of 
the  words,  as  we  review  them? 

We  say  of  them  :  The  same  and  yet  not  the  same. 
The  word  meant  to  one  a  sacrifice  at  the  central  and 
inmost  point  of  his  soul's  life  — the  consent  to  part 
with  his  great  possessions  for  the  good  of  the  poor, 
and  thus  the  contradiction  of  his  deepest  affections 
and  desires,  in  order  that  he  might  gain  even  the 
first  entrance  into  the  life  of  which  he  had  been 
thinking.  No  following  was  possible  for  such  as  he, 
unless  the  man  was  changed  in  that  secret  region  of 
his  character  which,  as  yet,  he  had  not  opened  to 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

his  own  view,  and  into  which  he  did  not  wish  to 
look,  even  for  a  moment.  To  another,  who  thought 
himself  a  disciple  and  declared  himself  ready  to  act 
accordingly,  only  with  an  excuse  for  a  temporary 
delay,  the  meaning  was,  the  immediateness  of  the  call 
of  duty.  No  excuse  can  defer  the  first  and  fore- 
most obligation  of  life.  Natural  affection  is,  indeed, 
a  beautiful  thing,  and  the  love  of  parents  is  no  less 
truly  a  Divine  command,  than  it  is  a  pure  and  noble 
impulse  of  the  heart.  But  even  the  demands  which 
come  from  this  must  not  hinder  the  response  of  the 
soul  to  a  voice  from  the  Divine  Father,  who  claims 
the  supreme  place  for  Himself  Let  the  spiritually 
dead  take  care  of  the  burial  of  the  physically  dead 
—  leave  them  alone  to  do  this  —  is  a  word  which 
may  not  need  to  be  often  spoken ;  for  the  life  of  dis- 
cipleship  moves  ordinarily  along  the  lines  of  the 
common  earthly  loves  and  duties.  But  there  are 
times  when  it  carries  with  it  the  summons  of  the 
only  true  life,  and  when  —  by  the  startling  emphasis 
with  which  it  bids  us  neglect,  and  leave  behind  us, 
that  service  of  the  family  and  of  dearest  friend- 
ships which,  as  we  are  wont  to  say,  glorifies  our  man- 
hood —  it  teaches  the  solemn  lesson  that  character 
cannot  wait,  and  that  the  turning  of  the  soul  towards 
the  right  which,  for  any  reason,  is  put  off  to  a  later 
season,  is  no  true  turning  at  all.  Character  lies  not 
in  a  coming  time,  but  in  the  present.  Life  belongs 
to  to-day,  and  the  reformation  or  renewal  which 
we  only  propose  to  ourselves  for  to-morrow  is  far 
more  uncertain  than  is  to-morrow  itself 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  significance  of  the 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

words  as  they  were  uttered  to  Philip,  in  the  text,  and 
to  Andrew  and  his  friend,  on  the  previous  day,  was 
all  in  the  line  of  gentleness.  We  would  know  where 
you  are  abiding,  they  said  to  Jesus,  in  order  that  we 
may  speak  with  you  in  confidence  of  the  great  things 
for  which  we  are  waiting  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
may  know  also  something  of  yourself  Come  and 
see ;  follow  me ;  was  the  answer.  Come  with  me, 
and  let  us  talk  together ;  and  suffer  the  impressions 
of  what  you  see  and  hear  to-day,  and  to-morrow,  and 
the  day  following,  to  take  their  rightful  hold  upon 
your  souls,  as  you  would  in  the  intercourse  of  any 
friendship.  I  ask  nothing  more  of  you  now.  When 
I  say,  Follow  me,  to  honest,  earnest  men  like  you,  I 
mean  live  for  a  season  in  a  nearness  of  mind  and 
heart  to  me,  according  to  the  laws  and  nature  of  a 
friendly  union,  and  then  test  the  matter  by  your  own 
experience  and  form  your  decision.  I  have  no  fears 
for  the  result;  and  you  will  not  have,  I  am  sure, 
two  or  three  days  hence.  Only  follow  me  naturally, 
easily,  not  suspiciously,  not  demanding  more  than  I 
do,  for  these  days.  This  was  His  meaning.  They 
yielded  to  His  reasonable  demand,  and  the  forces  of 
the  new  life  were  implanted  in  their  hearts. 

Then,  after  the  few  days  had  passed,  He  suffered 
them — we  may  believe  that  He  even  urged  them  — 
to  return  to  their  homes  and  their  occupations  again. 
Tl^ei-e  —  by  the  lake-side,  and  in  their  daily  round  of 
homely  duties  —  they  were  to  let  the  impulse  and 
spirit,  which  they  had  gained  in  their  brief  union 
with  Him,  work  out  into  action  and  life  quietly,  while 
they  had  no  thought  of  greater  things  for  themselves, 

112 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

until  the  new  teaching  of  the  new  friend  should 
manifest  itself  as  the  truth  by  reason  of  its  recognised 
power  within  their  souls.  The  character  was  to 
grow  gently  and  easily  —  even  as  the  living  seed  had 
been  so  naturally  and  tenderly  planted  at  the  first  — 
until  it  should  be  ripened  and  strengthened  enough 
for  the  Master's  use.  This  was  the  plan  and  the 
movement,  as  we  see  by  the  story ;  and,  after  a 
season,  Jesus  called  them  again. 

But  when  the  call  came  again,  with  its  repetition 
of  the  same  words  which  they  had  heard  before, 
what  a  depth  and  breadth  of  meaning  it  carried  in 
itself!  It  meant  now  a  life-long  service,  with  all  of 
self-denial  and  labour  and  persecution,  and  with  all 
of  joy  also  and  courage  and  victory,  which  it  might 
involve.  They  were  prepared  to  understand  it  now 
—  that  it  signified  a  giving  up  of  all  that  they  had 
known  and  done  in  their  past  experience,  for  His 
sake ;  —  and  they  were  ever  ready  to  yield  obedience 
to  the  summons.  They  heard  the  familiar  words, 
uttered  by  the  voice  which  they  knew,  and  in  a 
moment,  without  a  hesitating  thought,  they  left  their 
boats,  and  their  father,  to  follow  Him  for  all  the 
future.  The  decisive  step  which  should  never  be 
recalled,  was  taken  immediately.  But,  because  of 
the  quiet  preparation  and  the  time  allowed  for  it, 
it  was  taken  as  naturally  as  the  step  which  turned 
their  course  towards  the  house  where  He  was  tem- 
porarily abiding,  when  He  said  to  them,  Come  and 
see. 

Thus  it  was  in  all  the  cases.  The  suddenness  of 
the  call  to  Matthew,  if  indeed  it  was  as  sudden  and 
8  113 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

unexpected  as  it  appears  in  the  story  to  have  been, 
and  the  instantaneousness  of  his  answering  act,  bore 
evidence  of  something,  in  his  Hfe  and  thought, 
which  filled  the  words  for  him  with  a  controlling 
force  and  energy  for  the  will.  There  have  been 
lives  since  the  Apostolic  age,  in  every  generation, 
in  which  such  calls,  at  a  critical  moment,  have  been 
the  first  and  effective  summons  to  a  permanently 
changed  career.  The  significance  of  the  call  was 
appreciated  by  the  man  himself;  the  result  only, 
which  seemed  perchance  to  have  been  without  a  cause 
proportioned  to  its  greatness,  was  visible  to  others. 
But  with  most  men,  it  is  not  so.  They  move  along 
the  more  even  paths;  and,  if  they  hear  the  Christian 
call  at  all,  they  reason  according  to  the  way  which 
Jesus  Himself  pointed  out  in  His  more  general  word  : 
If  any  man  serve  me,  let  him  follow  me.  If  I  enter 
the  service  of  any  master  who  calls  for  the  exercise 
of  the  true  life-powers  of  the  soul,  it  becomes  me  to 
obey  his  voice  as  it  utters  the  command /b/^zf  me  ; 
and  as  a  genuine  man,  worthy  of  the  name,  I  will 
do  that  which  alone  befits  the  life  which  I  have 
chosen.  The  reasoning  which  they  thus  carry  for- 
ward in  their  minds  abides  with  them.  It  affects 
their  living  gradually,  yet  constantly  and  powerfully, 
and  they  become,  as  time  passes  on,  thoughtful  and 
earnest  followers  of  him  whom  they  serve. 

The  summons  which  these  words  bear  with  them 
thus  had  in  the  Gospel  stories  a  special  significance 
in  each  several  case  —  and  we  may  believe  that  it 
was  so,  also,  in  the  many  instances  in  Jesus'  lifetime 
where  He  gave  utterance  to  the  bidding  follow  me, 

114 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

but  which  have  not  been  recorded  for  our  reading 
by  the  evangelists.  The  call  to  all  alike  was  one, 
but  its  meaning  varied  with  the  circumstances  and 
peculiarities  of  each  individual  case.  As  we  have 
said  at  the  outset,  The  same,  and  yet  not  the 
same. 

But  with  equal  fitness,  and  in  accordance  with 
what  the  several  narratives  suggest  to  us,  we  may 
turn  our  expression  into  its  opposite  in  order  and 
in  thought,  and  say:  Not  the  same,  and  yet  the 
same.  And  the  full  presentation  of  what  the  words 
contain  will  not  be  brought  before  us,  until  we  view 
the  summons  in  this  light  also. 

The  words  involved,  first  of  all  —  in  every  case  — 
decision  and  promptness  of  action.  We  may 
observe  this  most  clearly  in  the  story  of  the  man 
who  wished  to  wait  until  he  had  fulfilled  the  office 
of  natural  affection  in  the  burial  of  his  dead  father, 
and  in  the  call  to  the  young  ruler  to  give  up  for  the 
help  of  others  the  wealth  which  was  the  dearest  pos- 
session of  his  soul.  Decision  was  essential,  in  these 
cases,  at  the  moment  and  in  preparation  for  the  first 
step  in  the  life  of  discipleship.  So,  on  the  other 
side,  it  was  evidently  essential,  when  the  call  came  to 
Matthew,  at  the  receipt  of  toll,  or  to  Andrew  and 
John,  at  the  sea  of  Galilee.  The  immediateness  of 
the  decision,  which  these  men  made,  was  manifest 
in  what  they  did.  Without  a  thought  or  a  ques- 
tion, they  rose  and  left  all.  They  formed  in  a 
moment  the  determination  of  a  life-time.  The 
brief  record  of  this  call  to  Matthew  which  the  evan- 

"5 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

gelist  gives,  and  the  single  sentence  wherein  he 
sums  up  the  action  on  which  all  the  future  de- 
pended, have  arrested  and  impressed  the  mind  of 
every  thoughtful  reader  from  the  writer's  day  to 
ours. 

But  these  were  not  the  only  cases.  The  same 
promptness  of  decision  was  involved  in  the  simple 
invitation  which  was  given,  on  the  first  day,  to  the 
two  young  disciples  of  John  the  Baptist.  By  reason 
of  their  condition,  and  of  the  end  which  both  they 
and  Jesus  had  in  view,  the  change  of  character  was 
not  centred  so  wholly,  and  so  apparently,  in  the 
one  act,  as  it  was  in  the  cases  previously  mentioned. 
But  the  one  act  here,  as  elsewhere,  was  nevertheless 
the  first  essential  thing.  The  consent  to  follow  Jesus 
to  His  lodging,  or  to  Galilee,  was  that  which  opened 
the  mind  and  heart,  instead  of  closing  them.  The 
life-movement  afterward  was  in  the  new  direction, 
and  towards  the  hght  and  truth  of  the  kingdom, 
because  the  footsteps  were  turned,  at  that  hour,  into 
the  way  along  which  the  words  of  Jesus  called  them. 
If  the  men  had  lingered  for  awhile  doubting,  or  had 
refused  to  obey  the  call,  the  opportunity  might  have 
passed,  and  the  life  might  never  have  grown  into 
faith  and  discipleship.  And  we  may  easily  beheve 
that  those  who  had  been  slow  to  be  trustful  and  to 
act,  at  that  moment,  would  not  have  received,  at  a 
later  season,  the  summons  to  the  service  and  glory 
of  the  Apostolic  office.  The  greater  calls  of  the 
future,  in  all  our  living,  follow  along  the  line  of  the 
lesser  ones  of  the  past  and  the  present,  and  the  man 
who  refuses  a  decision  for    right  character   as  the 

ii6 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

CTatcwa}'  towards  the  attainment  of  it  opens,  may 
find  the  path  beyond  the  gateway  closed  to  his  Hfe. 
The  words  of  Jesus  may  come  to  us,  in  many 
ways,  bidding  us  follow  Him,  They  may  have 
their  own  significance  for  each  one  of  us,  because 
of  something  which  is  individual  and  peculiar  to 
our  lives.  But  however  they  come  and  whatever 
may  be  their  special  meaning,  they  call  for  prompt 
decision  somewhere ;  and  this  prompt  decision  is 
vitally  connected  with  character,  and  lies  near  the 
sources  and  foundation  of  the   inner  life. 

The  words  of  the  call  of  Jesus  involved  also,  in 
every  case,  a  personal  relation  to  Him.  Philip  was 
invited  to  follow  Him,  that  he  might  grow  into  the 
friendship  of  Jesus  and  grow  into  friendship  towards 
Him.  So  it  was,  even  pre-eminently,  when  the  two 
pairs  of  brothers  were  called  away  from  their  friends 
and  their  business,  at  the  sea  of  Galilee,  and  bidden 
to  be  fishers  of  men  as  preachers  of  the  Gospel.  So 
it  was,  also,  at  the  end,  when  Peter  was  told  of  his 
own  future  and  his  martyrdom.  Follow  tne  meant 
to  him  that,  in  his  coming  years,  he  should  live,  in 
the  soul's  life,  in  union  with  the  Friend  who  was  now 
to  be  removed  from  his  bodily  sight  and  presence, 
and,  in  loving  service  and  work  for  Him,  should 
triumph  over  the  thought  of  the  trial  before  him, 
and  even  glory  in  it. 

So  it  was  everywhere.  Following  after  Jesus  was 
never  presented  in  His  teaching  as  a  mere  imitation 
of  His  example,  or  obedience  to  His  commands. 
It  had  a  significance  far  deeper  than  this ;  and,  by 

117 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

reason  of  this  deeper  significance,  the  teaching  set 
itself  apart  from  every  other  doctrine  and  system. 
It  meant  the  personal  union  of  the  disciple  with  the 
Master  —  a  communion  between  the  souls  of  the 
two,  kindred  to  that  between  the  souls  of  loving  men 
—  as  real  and  vital  as  such  human  communion,  and 
laying  hold  even  more  powerfully  upon  the  inmost 
spirit.  This  is  of  the  essence  of  Christianity.  It 
is  its  central  truth,  so  far  as  life  and  experience  are 
concerned.  The  Christian  call,  whenever  it  comes 
to  us,  is  to  the  attainment  of  this.  Its  promise  is 
the  promise  of  the  realisation  of  what  it  tells  us  of 
and  offers  to  us.  Why  should  not  wealth  and 
earthly  good  be  sacrificed  for  the  union  of  the  soul 
with  the  Divine?  Why  should  not  the  privilege  and 
duty  of  earthly  affection  be  set  aside,  when  the 
heavenly  friendship  opens  itself  to  our  personal  ex- 
perience? Why  should  not  the  cross  itself  be  taken 
up  by  any  man,  when  it  is  found  in  the  pathway 
which  leads  toward  that  following  after  Christ  which 
is  communion  and  fellowship  and  friendship  with 
Him?  The  Gospel  stories  place  these  questions 
before  us,  as  we  pass  from  one  of  them  to  another, 
and  they  bear  with  them  their  answer.  To  follow 
Jesus  means  to  be  united  with  Him,  in  such  a 
union  that  His  life  becomes  the  disciple's  life,  and 
the  two  are,  at  the  end,  one  —  even  with  that  one- 
ness which  unites  the  Father   and  the  Son  in  love. 

The  words  of  the  call,  we  may  say  once  more,  in- 
volved a  complete  consecration  to  the  work  of  the 
Master.      Christian    character    grows    indeed,    like 

ii8 


THE    INNER   LIFE 

all  character.  Christian  principle  develops  and 
strengthens  in  its  power  and  energy.  The  full 
fruits  we  see  at  the  end,  not  at  the  beginning.  But 
who  can  fail  to  observe,  as  he  studies  carefully  the 
New  Testament  narratives,  that  the  young  ruler's 
selling  his  property,  or  Philip's  consenting  to  accom- 
pany Jesus  —  different  as  the  one  act  was  from  the 
other  —  was  a  first  and  decisive  step  towards  that 
fulness  of  devotion  to  which  Jesus  pointed  the 
thought  of  Peter,  when  He  gave  him,  as  His  final, 
personal  word,  the  bidding  to  put  aside  all  care  as 
to  the  manner  of  his  own  dying,  and  all  questioning 
as  to  allotments  of  life  for  his  nearest  friend,  and 
to  concentrate  his  whole  mind  and  soul  and  spirit  on 
one  thing  —  the  following  after  Christ.  And  then, 
if  we  turn  from  the  history  to  the  letters  of  this 
Apostle,  and  his  friend  also,  about  whom  he  asked 
his  question,  and  find  tJie  men  revealed  in  what  they 
wrote  long  years  after  the  ending  of  Jesus'  life,  how 
clearly  we  see  that  the  growth  and  fruitage  of  the 
last  days  were  only  the  development  of  that  which 
was  planted  in  their  souls  when  they  first  listened  to 
the  words  follow  me. 

It  was  the  same  thing  from  the  beginning  to  the 
ending.  The  devotion  of  the  life  to  the  Apostolic 
work,  when  the  call  was  given  at  the  Galilean  lake- 
side, was  in  itself  but  one  manifestation  of  the  spirit 
which  the  call  involved.  The  act  and  course  to 
which  it  moved  the  four  disciples  pertained  to  their 
peculiar  work  and  duty.  But  it  was  illustrative  of 
the  spirit  involved  in  every  call,  in  which  the  words 
folloiv  me  came  from  the  lips  of  Jesus.     The    im- 

119 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

mediateness  and,  as  we  may  say,  comprehensiveness 
of  the  act  on  their  part  strikingly  exhibit  the  distinc- 
tive feature  of  all  obedience  to  such  a  summons, 
which  in  and  of  itself,  means  the  absolute  and  com- 
plete turning  of  the  character  at  the  outset,  and  its 
full  development  at  the  end. 

And  so  the  call  comes  down  the  centuries,  from 
those  early  days  to  ours  —  the  same,  yet  not  the 
same ;  or,  on  the  other  side,  though  not  the  same, 
yet  indeed  one  and  the  same.  It  meets  us  now,  as 
we  ask  where  we  shall  find  Jesus,  and  what  we  shall 
find  in  Him  —  the  question  which  Andrew  and  Philip 
asked.  It  meets  us  again,  when  we  inquire  the  way 
to  eternal  life;  or  propose  to  enter  into  discipleship 
when  the  earthly  calls  are  satisfied ;  or  think  of  our 
future  hopes  and  possibilities ;  or  see  the  crosses 
which  life  brings  to  all  of  us ;  or  raise  the  question 
of  life's  permanent  work  and  duty.  But  everywhere 
it  sounds  in  our  hearing  the  words  follow  me,  and 
tells  us  the  meaning  of  those  words :  —  that  their 
meaning  is  service,  as  to  a  Divine  Friend  —  that  it 
is  yielding  to  His  influence,  and  knowing  His  friend- 
ship —  that  it  is  the  immediate  devotion  of  our  souls 
to  Him,  and  the  receiving  into  our  souls  the  princi- 
ples and  powers  of  the  true  life,  which  shall  develop 
into  strength  and  beauty  of  Christ-like  character 
through  all  the  future. 


IX 

OUR   CITIZENSHIP   IN    HEAVEN 
For  our  citizenship  is  in  heaven.  —  Philippians  iii.  20. 

THE  prominent  word  which  Paul  uses  in  this 
sentence  is  derived  from  the  Greek  noun  de- 
noting a  citizen,  or  member  of  a  city  or  state.  Its 
precise  significance  as  here  employed  has  been  a 
matter  of  some  discussion  —  particularly  as  to  the 
question  whether  it  should  be  rendered  in  our  lan- 
guage by  the  word  citizensJiip,  as  given  in  the  text 
of  the  Revised  English  Version,  or  commonwealth^  as 
the  margin  of  that  version  reads.  In  either  case, 
the  Apostle  applies  to  the  condition  and  life  of  the 
believer  in  Christ  a  term  which  involved  the  idea  of 
membership  in  a  state,  and  especially  in  a  free  state, 
with  the  privileges  and  rights  pertaining  to  such 
membership.  The  other  word  which  he  uses  marks 
the  locality  of  this  state,  and  thus  indicates  the  char- 
acter of  the  citizenship.  The  commonwealth  to 
which  the  Christian  belongs  is  the  heavenly,  and  not 
an  earthly  one.  He  is  a  free  citizen  of  this  com- 
monwealth ;  and,  as  the  Apostle  views  his  condition, 
the  privileges  and  membership  are  his  now,  for  he 
joins  the  words  of  his  sentence  by  the  present  tense 
of  a  strong  verb  :  Our  citizenship  is  —  our  common- 
wealth subsists,  and  has  a  real,  and  objective,  and 

121 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

present  existence,  in  heaven.  The  fact,  however, 
that  it  is  in  heaven,  while  the  beUever  is  yet  on 
earth,  and  the  intimation  given  in  the  latter  part  of 
the  verse  of  a  waiting  for  a  future  event — the  com- 
ing of  the  Lord  Jesus  —  which  alone  is  to  bring  the 
complete  realisation  of  the  blessing,  show  that,  ac- 
cording to  the  thought  of  the  writer,  the  citizenship 
is  viewed  in  its  relation  to  one  who  is,  for  a  time,  ab- 
sent from  the  home  city  and  sojourning  elsewhere. 
The  believer  is  not  in  heaven,  but  the  citizenship, 
the  commonwealth  to  which  he  belongs,  is  there. 
The  close  connection  of  the  words,  finally,  with  those 
which  precede  and  follow,  indicate  the  bearing  of 
this  thought  of  citizenship,  as  the  Apostle  desired  to 
present  it  to  his  readers.  The  sentence  begins  with 
the  word  for,  and,  through  it,  points  backward  to  a 
context  suggestive  of  duties  ;  and  it  passes,  at  its 
ending,  into  words  referring  to  heaven  and  what 
shall  be  accomplished  in  the  future,  and  thus  turns 
the  mind  to  privileges  and  hopes. 

Such  is  the  text.  I  present  it  for  consideration, 
for  a  little  time,  as  we  view  it  in  this  light.  What  is 
the  privilege ;  and  what  is  the  hope ;  and  what  is  the 
duty,  involved  for  the  Christian  in  his  membership  in 
the  heavenly  commonwealth,  while  he  is  on  earth? 

We  may  consider  it,  first,  with  respect  to  privilege. 
It  is  evident  that  the  citizen  of  any  state,  when 
absent  from  his  home  and  resident  in  a  foreign  land, 
cannot  be  in  the  full  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  the 
privileges  which  appertain  to  him  as  a  citizen.  Lim- 
itations, in  this  regard,    are    connected    necessarily 

122 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

with  his  present  condition,  and  so  there  is  a  sphere 
for  patient  waiting  and  for  hope  of  a  larger  and 
better  future.  It  is  evident,  also,  that  these  limita- 
tions may  check  or  hinder,  for  a  time,  the  develop- 
ment of  the  life  and  character  along  the  lines  of 
these  privileges.  We  grow,  as  we  enjoy,  where  the 
conditions  of  our  life  are  perfectly  fitted  for  its 
growth.  Where  the  conditions  are  not  thus  fitted, 
the  powers  may  become  weaker,  or  they  may  work 
toward  loss  and  failure.  But  the  man  who  has  that 
within  himself  which  his  birthright  in  the  state  has 
made  his  own  will  bear  it  with  him  everywhere,  and, 
notwithstanding  the  limitations,  will  be  conscious  of 
its  presence  as  a  privilege  and  a  power. 

The  first  element  in  this  privilege  is  the  life-prin- 
ciple of  the  commonwealth  —  that  which  is  central 
to  its  own  being.  The  citizen  of  the  free  common- 
wealth knows  within  himself  such  a  life-principle  of 
freedom,  which  makes  him  a  different  man  from  the 
men  of  the  foreign  land  where  he  may  be  temporarily 
abiding,  and  as  he  knows  it,  he  knows  also  the  bless- 
ing which  belongs  to  him  in  consequence  of  its 
indwelling  power.  The  fundamental  idea  on  which 
the  constitution  and  organisation  of  the  state  are 
based  has  become,  by  reason  of  his  citizenship,  the 
foundation  of  his  own  character.  The  manhood  in 
him  takes  hold  upon  this  idea  and  principle,  and  in 
all  its  development  makes  itself  strong  by  reason  of 
its  hold  upon  them.  The  Christian  believer  has  a 
possession  of  a  kindred  sort.  He  does  not  yet 
realise  the  full  privileges  of  the  heavenly  common- 
wealth, but   he  has  powers  and    gifts   which   come 

123 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

forth  from  it.  The  laws  and  principles  of  the  com- 
monwealth work  upon  and  into  his  personality,  and 
make  him  a  new  man.  The  fundamental  idea  of 
this  commonwealth  is  righteousness  —  a  righteous- 
ness which  is  based  upon  love  and  enters  into  the 
heart  as  a  living  reality  through  faith.  Its  laws  are 
directed  to  this  end.  Its  principles  find  their  centre 
and  source  of  being  in  this.  This  righteousness  is 
secured  to  him  from  the  moment  of  his  spiritual 
birth,  and  is  the  atmosphere  of  the  life  to  which  he 
is  born,  as  truly  as  is  liberty  in  the  case  of  one  who, 
by  his  birthright,  is  a  member  of  the  civil  state  that 
is  established  for  freedom.  Having  once  entered 
his  life,  it  never  leaves  him.  It  only  grows  in  its 
strength  as  time  moves  forward. 

The  privilege  of  the  citizenship  is  here.  I  am  not, 
indeed,  perfect  in  the  development  of  my  life  as  yet; 
I  am  subject  to  the  assaults  of  temptation,  and  am  so 
weak  in  my  powers  until  now,  and  so  involved  in 
the  evils  of  the  world  in  which  I  am  living,  that  I 
sometimes  or  oftentimes  fall,  under  the  force  of 
these  assaults,  into  wrong-doing  and  sin.  My 
actions  belong,  as  they  seem,  to  the  commonwealth 
in  which  I  have  my  dwelling-place  for  a  season, 
rather  than  to  that  which  claims  me  for  itself,  and 
to  which  I  am  hoping  to  take  my  way.  But  this  is 
the  weakness  which  comes  from  absence  from  my 
home  and  its  surroundings,  and  from  the  forgetful- 
ness,  for  the  time,  of  the  great  principles  of  the  life 
of  my  own  commonwealth.  When  I  come  back  to 
myself,  and  look  into  the  deeper  recesses  of  my  soul 
for  the  life-power  which  is  central  to  my  spiritual 

124 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

being,  I  find  that  it  is  still  that  which  made  its 
entrance  within  me,  at  the  beginning,  from  heaven, 
and  secured  to  me  the  citizenship  of  the  heavenly 
state.  And  so  I  rejoice  in  my  birthright,  and  try  to 
live  up  to  it.  And  so  I  take  heart  for  the  new  con- 
flict with  temptation,  and,  peradventure,  I  win  a  vic- 
tory, where  I  lost  one  before.  And  so  I  see  that 
the  vital  force  becomes  stronger  and  more  all-con- 
trolling—  gradually,  it  may  be,  but  surely  —  as  my 
course  moves  onward,  and  the  citizenship  bears  new 
witness  continually  for  itself.  This  is  the  Christian 
career.  It  is  privilege  and  possession  at  the  begin- 
ning, and  not  merely  at  the  end.  It  is,  under  what- 
ever figure  we  may  represent  it,  reality  to-day, 
though,  with  reference  to  its  fulness,  it  may  be 
realisation  only  hereafter.  It  is  therefore,  as  we  use 
the  figure  now  before  us,  a  citizenship  whose  life- 
principle  for  the  inner  life  is  present  with  its  trans- 
forming and  ennobling  energy  when  we  are  in  the 
foreign  land,  and  whose  promise  is  ever  laying  hold 
upon  the  future. 

But  the  privilege  of  the  citizen  is  not  merely  in 
the  fundamental  principle  of  the  commonwealth.  It 
is  found  also  in  the  influence  of  the  life  of  the  mem- 
bership. We  do  not,  as  we  grow  up  into  the  pos- 
session of  the  freedom  of  the  civil  state,  gain  the 
privilege  of  our  citizenship  through  the  working  of 
liberty  in  our  individual  lives  only.  This  is  but 
half  of  what  is  accomplished  for  us.  The  fact  that 
we  do  not  breathe  the  atmosphere  alone,  is  as  im- 
portant to  our  attaining  the  full  results,  as  that  we 
breathe  it  at  all.     No  man  liveth  for  himself  or  by 

125 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

himself,  in  any  sphere  of  the  inner  hfe,  who  Hves  for 
the  best  ends.  He  draws  from  the  common  hfe,  and 
becomes  greater  and  better  by  receiving  into  him- 
self the  lessons,  and  influences,  given  forth  from  the 
growths  of  character,  which  are  manifest  in  the  large 
and  noble  and  pure-minded  men  around  him,  who 
have  been  taught  by  the  same  masters  or  have  been 
impelled  by  the  same  forces. 

It  is  thus,  even  in  a  peculiar  measure,  with  the 
Christian  believer.  It  is  a  distinguishing  mark  of 
the  commonwealth  to  which  he  belongs,  that  love  is 
not  only  the  foundation-principle  in  the  righteous- 
ness for  which  the  commonwealth  exists,  but  also 
the  uniting-power  which  binds  the  community  to- 
gether—  that  the  inspiration  of  the  common  life  and 
of  the  individual  life  are  thus  the  same.  The  Chris- 
tian believer,  therefore,  cannot  grow  in  his  true 
development  along  the  line  of  the  ideas  of  the 
Christian  state,  unless  he  comes  into  vital  union 
with  the  brotherhood  of  believers.  But  the  cannot 
is  not  so  much  one  of  necessity,  as  one  of  privilege. 
It  is  the  blessed  possibility  of  life  in  the  Christian 
commonwealth  —  not  tJie  rcqnircment  of  a  stern  and 
hard  lazv  —  that,  through  the  binding  force  of  that 
love  for  one  another  which  rests  upon  the  common 
love  of  the  Lord  for  all,  the  individual  believer  may 
know  within  himself  the  influence  of  the  communion 
of  saints  and  so  of  what  is  universal  in  the  brother- 
hood. The  citizen  of  the  civil  state,  even  when  he 
dwells  by  himself  in  a  foreign  land,  is  not  a  single 
personality,  confined  within  the  limits  of  his  own 
being.     As  truly  as  he  carries  with  him  the  freedom 

126 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

to  which  he  was  born,  so  truly  docs  he  possess  in  his 
mind  and  soul  the  life  of  the  community  and  the 
state  in  which  he  was  born.  Wherever  he  may  be, 
his  thought  and  character,  and  his  very  self,  are  in- 
woven with  what  is  innermost  in  all  to  whom  has 
been  given  the  same  inheritance ;  and  only  thus, 
and  for  this  reason,  is  he  a  true  citizen.  How  much 
more  truly,  may  we  say,  is  this  the  fact  in  the  case  of 
the  citizen  of  the  heavenly  commonwealth,  in  whom 
love  moves  ever  parallel  with  faith,  and  for  whom 
the  life  of  the  state  is  the  life  of  the  individual  multi- 
plied, and  united  in  its  manifold  manifestations, 
through  an  ever  outgoing  and  incoming  love. 

A  third  element  in  the  privilege  of  citizenship, 
which  one  carries  with  him  whithersoever  he  goes,  is 
the  consciousness  of  his  relation  to  the  state  and  its 
government.  The  member  of  a  strong  common- 
wealth has  within  himself  abroad,  as  well  as  at 
home,  a  kind  of  personal  consciousness  of  the 
strength  which  the  state  possesses.  He  is  strong, 
because  of  its  power.  He  is  firm,  because  of  its 
stability.  He  has  a  deeper  sense  of  his  own  man- 
hood, by  reason  of  his  assurance  that  the  freedom 
which  it  has  bestowed  upon  him  is  made  secure 
by  its  ability  to  defend  itself  and  him  against  all 
enemies.  What  was  the  significance,  in  this  regard, 
of  the  words,  I  am  a  Roman  citizen,  to  the  Apostle 
who  was  now  writing  to  the  church  in  Philippi, 
where  a  few  years  before  he  had  boldly  challenged 
the  magistrates  of  the  city  by  the  assertion  of  this 
claim  !  He  knew  that  the  power  and  glory  of  Rome 
were  in    the    citizenship,  and    he    rejoiced,    with    a 

127 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

noble  pride,  that  he  was  born  to  this  privilege.  The 
citizenship  in  heaven  had  a  similar  significance  to 
his  thought.  The  kingdom  to  u^hich  I  belong,  he 
said  to  himself,  is  a  kingdom  which  cannot  be 
moved.  Its  immovable  character  passes  into  myself, 
as  I  enter  into  its  membership.  The  agitations  and 
oppositions  and  conflicts  of  the  world  cannot  dis- 
turb my  confidence  or  my  peace.  The  seizure  of 
my  person  for  imprisonment  or  the  hindrance  of  my 
work  cannot  shake  my  faith.  All  things  are  moving 
forward  according  to  the  plan  of  Divine  wisdom,  and 
the  kingdom  pertains  to  God. 

And  so  —  even,  as  it  would  seem,  with  less  incom- 
ing of  questioning  or  fear — may  the  believer  of  this 
quieter  age  take  to  himself  the  same  thoughts.  The 
warfare  of  the  spiritual  enemies  of  to-day  is  less 
dangerous,  than  that  of  the  forces  and  governments 
of  the  earthly  states  was  then,  and  the  doubts  and 
denials  which  the  Christian  finds  about  him  on  every 
side  are  only  different  in  their  character  now  from 
what  they  have  been  in  other  generations.  They 
are  not  more  formidable  than  those  which  have 
been  overcome  by  the  powers  of  the  heavenly  com- 
monwealth many  times  in  the  past  history.  The 
triumphs  already  witnessed,  therefore,  bear  testimony 
for  the  issue  of  the  present  and  coming  struggles.  I 
may  not  disquiet  my  soul  because  I  am  pressed  into 
the  midst  of  them,  or  because  I  see  them  fiercely 
moving  on  about  me,  or  even  breaking  in  upon  the 
Church  itself.  The  ages  tell  me  their  own  story, 
and  it  is  one  which  brings  calmness  and  peace.  The 
immovableness  of  the  kingdom  has  ceased  to  be  a 

128 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

thing  of  promise  only,  and  has  become  a  thing  of 
experience. 

The  citizen  of  the  heavenly  commonwealth  thus 
has  the  privilege  of  rest  and  confidence  in  his  soul. 
His  inheritance  and  home  arc  not  in  a  weak  state, 
which  has  no  strength  to  defend  and  secure  him  in 
all  his  rights  and  blessings,  and  no  influence  or 
authority  extending  beyond  its  own  borders.  He 
is  a  member  of  the  eternal  commonwealth,  and  of 
the  city  which  hath  the  foundations,  and  he  can 
abide  among  strangers  while  he  must  do  so,  or  in  a 
foreign  land,  with  a  sense  of  the  power  and  greatness 
of  that  which  is  eternal.  His  privilege,  therefore, 
takes  hold  upon  the  assured  existence  of  the  state, 
as  well  as  upon  the  life-principle  pertaining  to  it, 
and  the  life-powers  which  inspire  his  own  life  and 
that  of  the  community — and  all  the  elements  of 
privilege  combine  to  ennoble  him  in  his  citizen- 
ship, while  he  experiences  its  blessings. 

But  this  last  point  in  the  matter  of  privilege  — 
the  assurance  of  the  permanency  and  immovable- 
ness  of  the  power  of  the  commonwealth  —  is  closely 
akin  to  the  hope  which  belongs  to  the  heavenly 
citizenship.  The  Apostle  points  us  towards  this 
hope  as  he  moves  on  in  his  words,  and  shows  us 
that  the  possession  of  it  is  a  chief  ground  of  his 
glorying  and  his  joy.  The  particular  thing  upon 
which  his  mind  centres,  indeed,  is  that  in  which 
it  finds  its  consummation.  But  there  can  be  no 
doubt  that  in  the  final  completeness,  to  his  thought, 
there  are  gathered  up,  as  it  were,  and  presupposed 
9  129 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

all  those  blessings  the  realisation  of  which  prepares 
the  way  for  the  end. 

If  the  state  is  permanent  in  its  life  and  victorious 
in  its  power,  it  will  fulfil  its  promises  to  its  citizens. 
They  may  be  but  in  a  partial  experience,  for  the 
present,  of  that  which  pertains  to  them  in  their 
right  as  members  of  the  state.  They  may  have 
only  somewhat  of  the  inner  life  of  the  home-country, 
while  they  are  sojourning  in  another  land  far  away, 
and  may  know  only  half  of  the  privilege  which  they 
might  otherwise  enjoy.  But  they  can  look  forward. 
It  will  not  be  thus  always.  The  state  will  gather 
its  citizens  to  itself,  and  will  put  them  in  full 
possession  of  that  which  it  has  within  its  own 
boundaries.  It  will  bear  them  forward  in  the 
experiences  of  its  distinctive  and  peculiar  life, 
until  it  has  realised  for  them  all  that  it  has  to 
bestow. 

The  thought  of  Paul,  which  he  indicates  here  and 
to  which  he  gives  more  full  expression  elsewhere, 
is  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  Christian  course 
the  spirit  of  the  man  becomes  possessed  of  a  new 
life  —  the  true  soul-life  —  because  of  righteousness, 
but  that  the  work  is  finished  only  in  the  future 
when,  at  the  end  and  the  coming  of  the  Lord,  the 
last  enemy,  death,  shall  be  destroyed,  and  the  per- 
fected spirit  shall  have  united  with  the  perfected 
spiritual  body,  the  instrument  of  its  action  and  the 
home  for  its  dwelling  forever.  The  movement  of 
the  heavenly  commonwealth  will  be  steadily  onward 
until  that  time.  The  principle  that  animates  and 
governs  the  life  of  the  state  —  righteousness,  founded 

130 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

on  faith  and  inspired  by  love  —  which  was  implanted 
in  the  citizen  at  his  entrance  into  it,  gives  to  him 
this  life.  The  life  develops  ever  afterwards  —  as  it 
can  and  may,  while  he  is  absent  from  his  own  coun- 
try ;  as  it  must  and  will,  when  he  comes  into  it ;  — 
and  by  and  by,  when  it  is  perfected  in  fitness 
for  the  highest  blessings,  the  outward  and  the 
inward  are  brought  together  in  a  beautiful  union, 
and  the  soul  has  its  building  from  God,  its  house 
not  made  with  hands,  eternal  in  the  heavens.  This 
is  the  perfected  soul's  dwelling-place  in  the  eternal 
city  —  the  commonwealth  of  God. 

Hope  thus  moves  along  the  line  of  the  ever  con- 
tinuing progress  and  is,  as  we  may  say,  essentially 
and  vitally  connected  with  it.  It  is  a  part  of  the 
life-power  of  the  commonwealth  and  its  citizenship, 
and  rests  upon  the  basis  of  what  is  enduring  in  the 
commonwealth  itself. 

Such  is  the  Apostle's  conception ;  and  how  can 
it  be  otherwise?  The  citizen  in  his  absence  from  ^ 
home  looks  forward,  as  by  a  necessity,  to  the  hour 
of  his  return  to  his  own  country  and  to  the  fulness 
of  blessing  of  the  time  which  shall  follow  that  hour. 
The  greater  his  confidence  in  the  strength  and 
stability  of  the  state  to  which  he  belongs,  the  more 
sure  and  undoubting  is  his  hope.  If  the  power  is 
there,  the  result  will  be  secured.  The  life  that  is 
stirring  within  him,  and  is  growing  towards  the 
completeness  which  can  be  realised  only  in  the 
experiences  and  surroundings  of  this  home-country, 
is  itself  the  evidence  that  the  hope  will  not  be 
disappointed.     The  citizenship  involves  and  proves 

131 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

the  hope  —  and  the  citizen  of  the  heavenly  common- 
wealth may  well  glory  in  it. 

But  the  privilege  of  the  citizenship,  as  the  Apostle 
speaks  of  it,  points  backward  to  the  thought  of 
duty,  as  well  as  forward  to  the  thought  of  hope. 
The  citizen  of  the  heavenly  state  has  a  duty  as 
related  to  it,  while  he  is  dwelling  in  another  country. 
It  is  interesting  to  notice  that  the  words  which  Paul 
uses  are  in  accordance  here,  as  they  are  in  other 
points,  with  the  suggestion  of  the  figure  of  the  text. 
The  sojourner  in  a  stranger's  land,  who  makes  that 
land  his  home  for  a  season,  does  not  owe  it  to  his 
native  country  to  be  careless  of  the  life  about  him, 
or  to  neglect  or  refuse  to  mingle  in  it.  He  is  not 
under  obligation  to  dwell  apart,  and  decline  to  be 
a  true  man  among  men.  Quite  the  opposite  of  this. 
The  call  of  the  home-country,  as  well  as  of  his 
manhood,  is  to  do  faithfully  whatever  lies  before 
him  in  the  pathway  of  right  and  truth  and  service 
and  love,  and  to  grow  in  his  fitness  for  the  blessing 
of  the  home-hfe  through  the  fulfilment  of  duties  in 
the  life  abroad. 

But  the  duty  of  his  citizenship  to  his  native  land 
is  to  be  the  first  of  all  things  —  so  penetrating  his 
life  with  its  influence  and  summoning  his  powers 
towards  itself,  that  his  work  and  heart  shall  turn 
homeward  in  their  final  purpose  and  deep  devotion. 
And  this  is  Paul's  thought  of  the  Christian  behever. 
He  is  to  live  in  the  world,  but  not  to  be  of  it.  He 
is  to  be  earnest  in  the  world's  work  as  it  falls  to  him 
to  do  it,  and  to  live  as  a  man  for  the  progress  and 

132 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

welfare  of  the  world ;  but  he  is  not  to  mind  earthly 
things;  —  that  is,  the  bent  and  direction  of  his 
mind  —  his  desires,  and  purpose,  and  will,  and  soul 
itself  —  are  not  to  be  toward  earth,  but  toward 
heaven.  He  is  to  keep  in  thought,  always,  that 
his  citizenship  is  in  the  heavenly  commonwealth, 
and  that  the  fulness  of  his  life  towards  which  he 
should  be  ever  moving  is  there.  The  duty  of  his 
years  of  sojourning  and  absence  from  home  is  to 
be  in  the  line  of  the  hope  which  pertains  to  his 
citizenship,  and  of  the  privileges  also.  We  cannot 
separate  the  hopes  and  privileges  of  our  citizenship 
from  its  duties.  They  combine  together  in  the 
citizen's  life.  They  are  a  part  of  himself,  wherever 
he  may  be.  As  he  glories  in  the  privileges  and 
rejoices  in  the  hopes,  so  he  must  consecrate  himself 
to  the  duties.  Thus  only  can  he  be  a  citizen,  in 
the  true  and  full  sense  of  the  word. 

The  Christian  life  is  a  peaceful,  happy  one.  It 
has  the  three  elements  of  such  a  life  —  duty,  and 
privilege,  and  hope.  It  moves  on  heavenward  while 
it  abides  on  earth,  ever  bearing  within  itself  the 
knowledge  of  its  origin  and  its  future.  It  gathers 
into  itself  all  good,  and  puts  forth  its  powers  for  all 
helpfulness  and  service  in  the  earthly  sphere ;  but  it 
grows,  as  by  the  impulse  of  its  own  nature,  under 
the  influences  of  the  heavenly  sphere.  Its  perman- 
ent and  joyful  peace  will  be  there. 


133 


FOR   MY   SAKE 

Jesus  said,  Verily,  I  say  unto  you,  There  is  tto  man  that  hath 
left  house,  or  brethren^  or  sisters,  or  mother,  or  father,  or 
children,  or  lands,  for  my  sake,  aiid  for  the  gospel's  sake, 
but  he  shall  receive  a  Jiundredfold  now  in  this  time,  houses, 
and  brethren,  and  sisters,  and  tfiothers,  and  children,  atid 
lands,  with  persecutions,  and  in  the  world  to  cotne  eternal 
life. — Mark  x.  29,  30. 

THESE  words,  which  are  recorded  after  substan- 
tially the  same  manner  in  all  of  the  first  three 
Gospels,  follow,  according  to  each  of  the  narratives, 
immediately  upon  the  story  of  the  conversation 
between  Jesus  and  the  rich  young  ruler.  As  the 
young  man  turned  away  sorrowful,  when  the  demand 
was  made  that  he  should  give  up  his  possessions, 
and  distribute  to  the  poor,  as  the  condition  of 
entrance  into  the  soul's  true  life,  Jesus  called  the 
thoughts  of  the  disciples  to  the  great  and  almost 
insurmountable  difficulty  which  those  who  loved 
riches  had  in  forsaking  them  for  the  kingdom  of 
God.  In  response  to  what  He  said,  Peter,  speaking 
for  himself  and  his  companions,  reminded  Him  that 
they  had  left  their  homes  and  everything  to  become 
His  followers,  and  then,  in  the  line  of  the  suggestion 
of  the  moment,  asked  the  question  as  to  what  the 

134 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

reward  should  be  for  doing  this.  The  answer  to 
the  question  was  given  in  this  general  form,  and  with 
application  to  all  disciples.  Let  us  consider  some 
part  of  the  teaching  which  the  words  suggest  to  us 
respecting  the  Christian's  service  and  reward. 

The  expression  which  holds  the  central  place  in 
the  order  of  the  words  and  in  the  thought,  is  the 
expression  "  for  my  sake."  These  words  are  funda- 
mental to  the  Christian  doctrine  everywhere.  The 
disciple  asks  for,  and  receives  forgiveness,  at  the 
outset  of  his  new  life,  for  the  sake  of  Jesus.  He 
consecrates  himself  to  duty  in  His  name.  He  makes 
the  work  to  which  he  devotes  his  energies  a  work 
for  Him.  He  offers  his  petitions  to  God  for  needed 
gifts,  and  presents  his  thanksgiving  for  past  bless- 
ings only  through  Him.  He  finds  the  inspiration 
which  moves  him  to  manly  living  and  to  service  for 
the  good  of  men  in  his  love  for  Him.  He  abides  in 
the  joy  of  his  own  thoughts,  and  grows  in  the  sweet- 
ness and  beauty  of  character  in  the  hope  of  His 
approval.  He  looks  forward  to  the  future  with  the 
most  delightful  anticipation,  because  he  is  then  to 
be  with  Him  and  to  be  like  Him.  From  the  begin- 
ning he  lives  for  Him,  and  at  the  end  he  even  dies 
lor  Him.  The  personal  relation  of  the  soul  to  Jesus 
is  insisted  upon,  under  all  circumstances,  as  essential 
to  that  life  of  true  righteousness  which  is  acceptable 
to  God ;  and  in  this  personal  relation  is  declared  to 
exist  the  life-giving  force  which  opens  the  way  into 
it,  and  impels  the  soul  forward  in  it. 

So  it  is  represented  here.  When  the  first  act  is 
MS 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

spoken  of  by  which,  in  the  Hght  of  the  call  to  the 
young  ruler  that  had  just  been  given,  the  entrance 
into  the  kingdom  is  pictured  forth  —  an  act  of  self- 
sacrifice  and  of  leaving  possessions,  or  home,  or 
family  —  it  is  described  as  done  for  the  sake  of  Jesus. 
It  is  not  simply  that  self  is  sacrificed  or  duty  is  ful- 
filled, but  chiefly,  and  above  all,  that  the  offering 
and  fulfilment  are  for  Him.  The  answer  of  Jesus 
was  an  answer  to  Peter's  word,  "  We  have  left  all 
and  followed  thee."  It  was  an  answer  which  met 
the  demands  of  the  case  that  was  presented,  and 
which  promised  a  reward  to  the  action  of  those,  who, 
like  him,  had  left  their  homes  and  their  possessions 
to  the  end  of  the  following. 

What,  we  may  ask,  are  the  elements  of  power  in 
this  great  motive  and  impulse  of  the  Christian  life, 
as  they  are  indicated  in  the  two  verses?  The  first 
element  is  found  in  the  leaving  of  all  things  for  the 
sake  of  a  friend.  It  is  sometimes  claimed  that  this 
is  not  the  noblest  ground  of  self-sacrifice  — that 
consecration  to  duty  for  its  own  sake,  and  because 
it  is  right,  is  more  worthy  of  the  truest  manhood, 
than  any  devotion  which  rises  out  of  personal  affec- 
tion. But  no  one  can  doubt  that  in  such  affection 
there  lies  a  powerful  incentive,  which  must  affect 
and  energise  the  soul.  Friendship,  wherever  it 
exists,  bears  witness  to  its  force.  It  testifies,  also, 
that  it  is  effective  for  the  upbuilding  of  character. 
Upon  this  force  Christianity  lays  hold.  The  man 
whom  it  approaches,  and  who  has  lost  the  true 
righteousness,  is  pointed  to  a  Friend  who  has  loved 

136 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

him.  This  Friend  has  seen  his  fall  into  sin,  his 
hopeless  condition,  his  forfeiture  of  the  blessedness 
of  union  with  God,  his  dark  prospect  for  the  future. 
He  has  seen,  also,  how  fatally  sin  has  wrought  by 
its  influence  upon  his  soul,  so  that  the  eye  of  the 
soul  has  been  dimmed,  or  even  blinded,  to  the 
beauty  of  what  is  good,  and  its  faculties  have  been 
weakened  in  their  outgoing  towards  right  affection 
or  right  action.  Moved  by  the  sight.  He  has  drawn 
near  to  help  him.  He  has  entered,  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, into  his  limitations  and  temptations ;  into  his 
experiences  and  possibilities ;  into  his  weakness 
and  darkness ;  and  has  offered  him  all  things  for 
the  future  —  forgiveness,  to  meet  and  set  aside  his 
sin ;  light,  to  illumine  the  darkness  into  which  he 
has  fallen ;  strength  coming  from  a  Divine  source, 
to  enable  him  to  resist  evil ;  a  pure  and  perfect 
example  for  him  to  imitate ;  a  beautiful  life  to  in- 
spire and  allure  him  by  what  it  has  to  give ;  and  a 
hope  reaching  into  the  invisible,  which  carries  in 
itself  the  promise  of  a  glorious  realisation.  The 
Friend  thus  raises  him  from  death  to  life  —  a  death 
the  reality  and  sadness  of  which  he  apprehends 
more  fully,  as  the  new  life  begins  and  moves  for- 
ward in  its  course.  He  is,  in  a  sense  in  which  no 
other  friend  is  or  can  be,  the  author  of  all  things 
on  which  the  man  now  centres  his  thought  and  his 
hope.  When  the  words  "  for  my  sake  "  are  spoken 
by  such  a  friend,  and  accompany  the  request  or 
demand  to  leave  houses,  or  lands,  or  anything  that 
seems  good,  what  a  living  and  life-transforming 
power  they  must  bear  with  them  !  Who  that  real- 
ms? 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

ises  what  the  things  which  have  been  done,  and 
those  which  are  offered,  are,  can  fail  to  respond  to 
these  words  with  the  answering  sacrifice  of  all 
things  at  the  very  door  of  the  new  life? 

The  motive  may  not,  indeed,  affect  every  man, 
for  it  may  not  be  that  every  man  will  believe  in  the 
story  of  what  the  Friend  has  accomplished  in  his 
behalf,  or  even  that  He  is  a  friend.  But  where  it 
finds  entrance  into  the  soul  far  enough  to  stir  the  vital 
forces,  it  must  stir  them  as  with  a  mighty  energy, 
and  in  the  direction  in  which  the  friend  calls  them 
forth.  This  impulse  also,  whatever  we  may  say  of 
the  comparative  measure  of  nobleness  which  be- 
longs to  it,  cannot  but  be  an  added  power  for  the 
soul's  movement,  beyond  anything  which  can  spring 
from  the  sense  of  right,  or  devotion  to  duty  —  the 
power  of  personal  affection,  of  gratitude  and  love. 

Why  did  Peter  and  his  companions  leave  all  and 
follow  after  Jesus,  while  the  young  man  who  had 
just  departed,  turned  back  to  his  great  possessions 
sorrowful?  Because  they  had  received  into  them- 
selves, as  he  had  not,  this  power.  From  the  first 
day  of  their  meeting  with  the  wonderful  teacher, 
they  had  learned  from  His  words  and  His  actions 
how  much  He  had  done  for  them.  They  saw  in 
Him  at  the  beginning  a  light,  which  shone  more 
and  more  brightly  as  the  days  passed,  and  they 
believed  that  He  had  brought  a  great  blessing  to 
their  lives,  and  had  wrought  a  great  work  in  their 
behalf  The  thought  of  Him  grew  richer  and  the 
love  for  Him  grew  deeper,  and  a  wonderful  force 
for  the  life  came  with   the   love  and   the  thought. 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

When  the  call  was  made  for  the  life-service  and 
the  life-fellowship,  the  soul  at  once  responded  to 
the  influence.  They  forsook  all  which  had  filled 
their  minds  and  moved  their  hopes  before,  and 
gave  themselves  to  Him  and  His  work.  They  rose 
up  immediately  as  He  summoned  them,  and  went 
after  Him  in  His  way,  not  tJieir  own.  This,  also, 
was  but  the  beginning.  In  the  inner  life,  as  well  as 
the  outer,  they  listened  to  His  voice  ever  afterward. 
They  heard  in  their  deepest  souls  the  words  '*  for 
my  sake,"  and  they  moved  on  to  new  duty,  and 
new  love,  and  new  hope  —  realising  within  them- 
selves the  meaning  and  impulse  of  the  divine  fel- 
lowship. And  thus  it  has  always  been,  from  that 
early  time  to  ours.  These  tender  and  heart-moving 
words,  which  bear  witness  of  so  much  in  the  life  of 
the  great  Friend,  and  of  the  disciple,  also,  in  his 
discipleship,  have  possessed  for  all  believers  the 
secret  of  the  vital  force  which  has  made  them  ever 
ready  after  the  same  manner  to  follow  Him. 

The  verses,  however,  suggest  another  element  in 
the  power  of  the  motive.  The  words,  "  for  my 
sake,"  are  joined  with  the  words,  "for  the  gospel's 
sake."  The  forms  of  expression  used  by  the  differ- 
ent evangelists  at  this  point  are  quite  significant,  as 
they  are  compared  with  each  other.  Matthew  has 
the  expression,  "  for  my  name's  sake,"  Mark  has,  "  for 
niy  sake  and  the  gospel's,"  Luke  has  simply,  "  for 
the  kingdom  of  God's  sake."  The  sacrifice  and  , 
service,  which  are  demanded  for  the-  sake  of  the 
friend,  are  demanded  for  the  kingdom.     The  whole 

139 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 


matter  is  centred  in  the  one  thing,  or  the  other,  or 
in  the  two  together,  according  as  the  thought  is  di- 
rected towards  it  from  one  place  of  observation  or 
from  another.  It  is  in  this  way  that  the  motive  be- 
comes the  noblest  one  possible,  for —  while  it  bears 
in  itself  the  force  and  inspiration  of  affection  for  a 
friend,  who  has  given  all  things,  and  even  himself, 
for  those  who  needed  his  help  —  it  also  moves  the 
man  by  the  impulses  which  send  him  forth  to  un- 
selfish service  on  behalf  of  the  world.  The  person 
and  the  kingdom  become  in  this  sense  one,  and  the 
love  which  goes  out  in  gratitude  towards  the  person 
for  what  he  has  accomplished  for  the  individual 
soul,  goes  forth  also,  and  by  the  very  necessity  of 
the  case,  in  helpfulness  for  all  others. 

The  Christian's  love  is  not,  therefore,  and  cannot 
be,  other  than  benevolent  and  all-embracing.  It 
cannot  ever,  while  it  remains  itself,  become,  as  the 
love  of  earthly  friendship  sometimes  does,  a  thing 
in  the  enjoyment  of  which  the  possessor  of  it 
indulges  for  himself  alone,  and  thus  unworthy  of 
his  purest  and  most  exalted  manhood.  But  moving 
along  the  same  line  of  grand  unselfishness  in  which 
the  spirit  of  consecration  to  right  and  duty  moves, 
it  unites  the  most  exalted  impulses  belonging  to  the 
heart  with  those  which  rise  from  thought  and  moral 
principle,  and  thus  urges  the  man  forward,  as  by 
the  common  life-force  of  his  whole  being.  It  sup- 
plies for  him,  and  in  him,  what  the  mere  moral  sense 
and  the  obligations  of  the  soul  to  the  law  of  right- 
eousness can  never  of  themselves  furnish  —  and  the 
thing  which  it  gives  is  a  wonderful  power  for  the 

140 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

development  of  character,  and  for  its    outworking 
in  all  good  service. 

Jesus  entered  our  human  life,  and  fulfilled  His 
work  among  men,  and  suffered  and  died,  in  order 
that  the  Gospel  might  be  made  known,  and  the  king- 
dom established.  He  made  all  men  His  brethren  to 
this  end,  and  as  He  tenderly  and  graciously  told  the 
story  of  the  love  of  God,  He  revealed  impressively 
His  own  self-sacrifice  in  love  to  all.  The  signifi- 
cance of  His  work  was  to  be  found  in  the  Gospel 
and  the  kingdom.  When  He  summoned  His  fol- 
lowers, therefore,  to  leave  possessions  and  friends 
for  His  sake,  He  called  them,  at  the  same  time  and 
by  the  same  act,  to  give  themselves  to  the  kingdom. 
They  were  to  devote  their  lives  to  the  cause  to  which  ^ 
He  had  devoted  His  life.  They  were  to  tell  the 
story,  and  labour  for  the  kingdom,  and  bear  witness 
of  the  true  righteousness,  and  proclaim  the  way  of 
faith,  and  make  God  known  as  ready  to  forgive  and 
to  save  all  who  would  turn  to  Him  —  placing  this 
work  above  all  others,  with  whatever  of  self-sacrifice 
it  might  involve.  They  were  to  do  it  for  His  sake, 
because  they  had  for  themselves,  and  their  own  souls, 
received  such  inestimable  blessings  from  Him.  But, 
as  they  did  it  for  His  sake,  they  were  to  give  them- 
selves, in  the  deep  and  true  understanding  of  the 
meaning  of  these  all-inspiring  words,  for  His  sake, 
—  and  in  a  love  and  service,  after  their  measure, 
like  His  own,  —  to  the  extending  of  the  same  bless- 
ings to  their  fellow-men.  To  leave  all  things  for  my 
sake  —  such  is  His  word  to  His  disciples  —  is  to 
leave  all  things  for  the  Gospel's  sake.     To  tell  the 

141 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

Gospel  story,  and  thereby  bring  in  the  reahsation  of 
the  kingdom,  is  to  do  the  work  of  God's  righteous- 
ness with  an  abounding  and  unselfish  love.  And  so 
the  motive  power  of  the  words,  "  for  my  sake,"  is  a 
soul-stirring  and  all-victorious  force. 

The  verses  suggest,  also,  another  element  in  the 
power  of  the  motive,  which  we  may  well  notice  for 
a  moment.  By  the  call,  which  is  given,  to  leave  all 
things  for  His  sake,  Jesus  puts  Himself  in  compar- 
ison not  only  with  houses  and  lands  —  that  is,  the 
great  possessions,  which  had  proved  sufficient  to 
keep  the  young  ruler  from  entering  the  gateway  of 
life,  even  when  he  saw  it  opening  before  him  —  but 
also  with  brethren,  and  parents,  and  children.  The 
friendship  of  Jesus  is  set  above  he  nearest  and 
truest  earthly  friendships,  and  the  suggestion  is  thus 
given  of  what  it  is  for  the  soul.  The  impelling 
force  of  which  we  are  speaking  is  found  in  the 
character  of  the  Friend  and  of  the  personal  relation 
with  Him.  The  weakness  or  even  selfishness  of 
human  love,  as  it  exists  at  times  between  two  friends, 
is  connected  closely  with  the  imperfection  which 
pertains  to  human  character.  The  higher  the  one 
whom  we  love  rises  in  the  beauty  and  glory  of  man- 
hood, however,  —  the  more  nearly  he  approaches 
the  perfection  which  we  picture  to  ourselves,  but  do 
not  realise,  —  the  less  are  we  in  danger  of  making 
the  love  minister  to  self,  as  we  exercise  and  enjoy 
it.  This  must  be  so,  because  the  influences  that 
come  through  such  a  personal  relation  are  those 
which  move  from  the  inmost  life  of  the  one  party  in 

142 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

the  union  into  the  inmost  Hfc  of  the  other.  This 
Hfc  in  the  centre  and  fountain  of  the  soul  being  all 
purity,  and  truth,  and  self-sacrifice,  and  readiness 
for  faithful  service,  the  teaching  and  the  impulse 
which  come  from  it  must  be  of  the  same  character. 
The  man  of  magnanimous  feeling,  or  lofty  purpose, 
or  elevated  sentiment,  or  sweet  reasonableness,  or 
warm  affection,  inspires  his  intimate  and  loving  friend 
with  what  goes  forth  from  himself,  and  by  means  of 
the  inspiration  brings  him  into  his  own  likeness. 
This  inspiration  is  a  transforming  and  purifying  and 
glorifying  power  which  works  with  continual,  though 
oftentimes,  it  may  be,  with  silent  energy.  It  is, 
moreover,  a  power  which  is  recognised,  as  its  re- 
sults in  the  life  are  seen,  with  the  deepest  gratitude. 
When  the  request  for  service  or  sacrifice,  accord- 
ingly, presents  itself  from  such  a  man  to  such  a 
friend  in  the  words,  "  for  my  sake,"  there  is  hidden 
in  these  words  a  secret  force  that  reveals  itself  more 
and  more  clearly  —  and  with  an  ever-increasing 
energy  —  as  the  call  seems  to  sound  along  the 
avenues  of  the  soul,  awakening  there  the  remem- 
brance of  all  the  influence  which  has  come  from  the 
one  to  the  other.  It  can  only  be  a  power  for  good 
action,  for  the  source  from  which  it  springs  is  the 
goodness  of  another's  character.  It  can  only  be  a 
power  in  harmony  with  true  and  generous  feeling, 
because  the  generous  life  of  one  soul  must  pro- 
duce generous  life  in  another.  Its  measure  can 
be  estimated  only  by  experience.  The  soul  deter- 
mines it  for  itself. 

The  life  of  Jesus,  however,  was  the  life  of  perfect 
143 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

manhood,  beyond  any  other  that  the  world  has 
known.  This  is  the  thought  of  all  respecting  Him, 
whatever  differences  there  may  be  in  the  other 
thinking  of  men  as  to  His  nature  or  His  work. 
What  then  must  have  been  the  influence  which 
passed  from  Him  to  those  who  sat  beside  Him,  and 
lived  in  His  society  and  fellowship !  They  must 
have  been  conscious  as  the  years  passed  on,  that 
they  were  growing  larger  in  their  manhood,  and 
nobler  in  their  soul's  living  in  every  part  of  it,  by 
reason  of  their  nearness  to  His  thought  and  love  and 
perfectness.  And  when  the  call  came,  which  they 
obeyed,  to  follow  Him  in  anything,  and  anywhere, 
for  His  sake,  they  must  have  felt  that  the  love  of 
Jesus,  which  constrained  them,  was  the  most  divine 
motive  which  could  impel  their  souls. 

The  words  "  for  my  sake,"  therefore,  as  they  read 
their  true  lesson  to  us  and  speak  of  their  true  mean- 
ing, tell  us  of  an  incentive  for  life  which  rejects  from 
itself  all  that  is  unworthy,  or  of  self  alone,  and  which 
gathers  into  itself  in  different  ways,  and  through 
varied  thoughts,  the  most  effective  force  for  the 
transformation  of  character  —  a  force  which  allies 
itself  actively  with  every  other  that  inspires  for 
good,  and  gives  new  energy  to  every  other. 

It  is  a  force  also  which  works  towards  a  reward. 
The  verses  of  the  evangelist  tell  us  of  this,  and,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  motive-power,  they  reveal  to  us 
something  of  its  nature.  The  Christian  doctrine 
lays  hold,  for  its  followers,  of  the  influence  derived 
from  hope.     It  promises  a  blessedness  in  the  future, 

144 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

in  recompense  for  the  sacrifice  of  the  present.     But 
as  it  turns  the  mind  of  the  one  who  believes  it  away 
from  selfishness,  when  it  imparts  to  him  its  impulse 
at  the  beginning,  and  along  the  course,  so  it  docs 
the  same   thing  when   it  points   to    the    end.     The 
reward   that  it  offers  is  one  which  belongs  only  to 
the  unselfish  soul.     The  words  of  Jesus  show  this. 
The  very  peculiarity  of  the  call  to  leave  all  things 
suggests  the  idea.    The  man  who  would  be  a  disciple 
is  bidden  to  sacrifice  himself.     Possessions,  it  may 
be  great  ones ;  friends,  even  the  nearest  and  most 
precious ;   a  chosen  and  happy  way  of  living,  and  a 
work  for  one's  own  growth  and  to  one's  own  advan- 
tage; these  things,  and  things  like  them,  must  be 
given  up,  if  the  true  life  is  to  be  gained.     The  inti- 
mation of  such  a  demand  is,  that  the  true  life,  and 
whatever  rewards  there  may  be  connected  with  it, 
are  to  be  found  only  in  a  sphere  where  self  cannot 
reign  supreme.     And  the  intimation  is  strengthened, 
when  the  leaving  of  all  is  called  for,  not  that  one 
may  serve  his  own  purpose  or  gain  his  own  end,  but 
for  the  sake  of  a  kingdom  and  a  gospel  which  per- 
tain to  the  true  righteousness  —  the    fruit   of  love 
and  of  faith.     It  is  made  still    further  impressive, 
when  it  is  declared  that  all  is  to  be  done  for  the 
sake  of  a  friend  whose  whole  work  was  an  offering 
of  himself  on  behalf  of  others,  and  whose  self-sacri- 
ficing love  led  him  even  to  die  for  the  world. 

But  —  apart  from  and  beyond  these  intimations  — 

the  words    themselves  which    describe    the    reward 

give   their    own    suggestion.     The    assurance    and 

promise  are  presented  in  the  verses  in  two  parts. 

10  145 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

111  the  former  part,  which  sets  forth  what  is  promised 
in  this  world,  the  description  of  the  reward  is  given, 
after  a  manner  which  is  characteristic  of  Mark's 
Gospel,  in  expressions  answering  to  those  employed 
in  the  giving  of  the  call  and  demand.  As  the  sacri- 
fice is  of  houses  and  lands  and  friends,  so  the  recom- 
pense is  said  to  be  in  a  greater  measure  of  the  same 
gifts.  But  the  conversation  with  the  rich  ruler,  and 
the  sayings  which  follow  after  it  with  respect  to  the 
love  of  riches,  as  well  as  the  very  peculiarity  of  the 
expressions  themselves,  make  it  manifest  that  their 
meaning  is  not  to  be  discovered  in  a  literal  interpre- 
tation of  them,  but  in  the  thought  which  the  occasion 
and  the  context  place  beneath  and  within  the  words. 
Interpreted  thus,  they  teach  us  the  truth  to  which 
all  Christian  experience  bears  witness,  that  for  the 
self-sacrificing  soul  the  possessions  which  are  left 

"^    behind,  and  which  pertain  to  the  outward  life,  are 
replaced,  as  it  were,  by  possessions  of  the  inward 

y^  hfe.  The  joy  of  Christ,  which  came  through  His 
offering  of  Himself  in  obedience  to  the  Father's  will, 
is  imparted  to  His  followers.  His  peace  becomes 
theirs.  The  hope  and  blessedness  of  the  Gospel 
enter  into  their  squIs.  They  take  hold  upon  all 
that  is  heavenly,  rather  than  earthly,  in  character; 
and  the  life  within  them  which  is  worthy  of  the  name 
in  all  its  full  significance  —  the  soul  life  —  is  saved. 

This  is,  indeed,  in  accordance  with  the  very  law 
of  self-sacrifice.  The  soldier,  who  consecrates  him- 
self to  the  service  of  his  country  and  goes  to  the 
front  in  battle  for  its  well-being,  must  leave  his  pos- 
sessions behind  him,  but  he  gains  a  hundredfold  in 

146 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

the  loss  of  them.  He  knows  within  himself  som^- 
thing  which  is  far  better,  even  as  it  is  far  grander, 
than  that  which  he  once  had  and  which  was  without 
himself.  The  man  who  renders  self-denying  service 
in  love  for  a  friend  knows  the  same  experience,  only 
in  smaller  measure,  it  may  be,  by  reason  of  the  more 
limited  nature  of  the  service  rendered.  This  mani- 
folding in  the  inward  life  is  the  rich  experience 
which  the  years  bring  to  all  of  us,  if  we  are  noble 
men.  But  the  manifolding  is  to  the  limit  of  the 
hundredfold  for  the  Christian  disciple,  because  he 
gives  himself  to  the  greatest  of  all  causes,  that  of 
God  and  man  alike,  and  offers  his  service,  in  sacrifice 
of  self,  for  the  sake  of  a  Friend  who  is  above  and 
beyond  all  others. 

The  continual  movement  towards  him  of  love  is 
also  realised  in  his  experience,  as  it  comes  from 
those  who,  by  reason  of  his  leaving  all  things  for 
the  Gospel  and  the  kingdom's  sake,  are  themselves 
brought  to  the  membership  of  the  kingdom  and  the 
full  blessing  of  the  Gospel.  This  love  is  ever  repay- 
ing him,  by  its  gifts,  for  the  sacrifices  which  he  has 
made. 

In  the  early  time,  when  the  words  of  Jesus  were 
first  spoken,  the  new  love,  which  had  a  purer  and 
more  sacred  element  in  it  than  the  old  love  had,  was 
the  whole,  and  indeed  the  sufficient,  recompense  for 
what  was  given  up.  But,  in  these  later  and  Chris- 
tian ages,  the  love  of  the  old  friends,  who  are  left 
behind  for  the  sake  of  Jesus  and  the  kingdom,  often- 
times becomes  itself  a  holier  affection  for  this  very 
reason,  and  realises  by  its  ever-increasing  power  a 

147 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

special  reward  for  the  self-sacrificing  disciple.  The 
gift  thus  bestowed  —  when  viewed  in  relation  to 
friendships  or  possessions  —  seems  even  to  be  a  mul- 
tiplication of  those  which  were  enjoyed  before ;  and 
in  the  deeper  satisfaction  of  the  soul,  and  the  richer 
blessing  of  its  experience,  the  literal  fulfilment  of  the 
words,  as  it  were,  comes  to  pass  — ■  now,  in  this  time, 
a  hundredfold  in  houses,  and  lands,  and  brethren, 
and  friendships ;  now,  in  this  time  —  so  truly  does 
the  Gospel  bear  within  itself  the  promise  of  the  life 
that  now  is,  as  well  as  of  that  which  is  to  come. 

Indeed,  its  second  promise  only  grows  out  of,  and 
follows  in  the  same  line  of  blessing  with,  the  first. 
The  eternal  life  is  only  the  fulness  of  that  which 
enters  the  soul  at  the  time  of  the  leaving  of  all 
things  for  the  Divine  Friend's  sake,  and  which 
abides  there  afterwards.  It  is  no  outward  reward 
which  can  be  selfiishly  sought  after,  like  so  many  of 
the  recompenses  of  the  earthly  career.  It  is  the 
perfecting  of  holy  character  in  love  and  every  grace 
and  beauty  —  the  very  beginning  and  ending  of 
which  is  the  loss  of  self  in  faithful  service,  and  in 
the  doing  and  living  for  His  sake. 

How  impressively  is  this  taught  us  by  that  single 
other  word  which  Jesus  adds  to  the  picturing  of  the 
earthly  rewards  —  zvitJi  persecutions^  a  word  which, 
through  the  victories  of  the  faith,  has  lost  for  us  its 
depth  of  meaning  known  so  well  by  the  first  disciples, 
yet  still  has  an  abiding  force  in  the  tests  and  trials 
which  beset  us  all.  These,  as  the  verses  assure  us, 
move  on  with  the  reward,  and  work  into  it  con- 
tinuously.    The  perfectness  of  the  result  at  the  end 

148 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

is  reached,  in  part,  by  means  of  their  mysterious 
working.  But  their  working  is  ever,  through  losses 
and  sacrifice  of  the  outward,  into  the  growth  and 
development  of  the  inward.  The  soul  becomes 
wonderfully  stronger  through  that  which  it  loses. 
It  finds  itself,  when  it  gives  up  all  things.  And 
thus  its  growth  into  its  own  fulness,  through  what 
were  in  the  old  time  persecutions,  and  are  7io%v  trials 
and  sorrows,  is  ever  realising  for  it  more  perfectly 
the  banishing  of  selfishness  in  the  discovery  of  its 
true  self.  The  movement  is  a  beautiful  and  a  grand 
one,  in  the  line  of  the  manliest  living,  from  the  first 
act  of  sacrifice  for  His  sake  to  the  final  experience 
of  reward  in  the  eternal  future.  What  a  blessed 
assurance  it  is,  which  the  words  give  to  us  all,  if  we 
will  listen  to  them :  There  is  no  man  who  has  left 
all  for  me  and  for  the  Gospel,  but  he  will  receive  a 
hundredfold  in  his  soul's  experience  here,  and  the 
eternal  life  of  the  soul  hereafter. 


149 


XI 

THE   TRUE    SEER 

And  one  of  the  Pharisees  desired  him ^  that  he  ivoidd  eat  with 
him.  And  he  entered  into  the  Pharisee's  house,  and  sat 
down  to  meat.  —  Luke  vii.  36-50. 

[The  verses  contain  the  story  of  the  woman  who  anointed 
the  feet  of  Jesus  in  the  Pharisee's  house.] 

I  WOULD  ofifer  for  consideration  a  few  thoughts 
which  are  suggested  by  this  story  as  we  look  at 
it  from  certain  special  points  of  view.  In  the  first 
place,  it  has  a  revelation  for  us  as  to  the  method  by 
which  Jesus  met  the  difficulties  of  those  who  ques- 
tioned His  claims  as  a  teacher  of  the  Divine  truth, 
and,  though  not  meeting  Him  with  hatred  or  with 
obstinate  rejection  of  His  words,  were  yet  unwilling 
to  come  to  Him  for  the  truth  until  these  difficulties 
should  be  removed.  The  person  whom  the  story 
represents  as  inviting  Jesus  to  his  house  was  one  of 
the  Pharisees.  We  are  told  nothing  else  with  defi- 
niteness  concerning  him.  But  we  may  infer,  from 
the  indications  of  the  verses,  that  his  purpose  in 
giving  the  invitation  was  not  a  hostile  one,  such  as 
we  find  manifested  by  others  of  the  sect  to  which  he 
belonged  as  they  came  into  contact  with  Jesus.  He 
did  not  desire,  apparently,  to  catch  Him  in  His  talk, 
as  the  sacred  writers  express  it,  or  so  to  entangle 


THE   INXER   LIFE 

Him  in  His  answers  to  what  he  asked,  that  he 
might  have  some  foundation  for  accusing  Him 
before  the  authorities  of  the  nation.  He  simply 
wished  to  satisfy  himself,  as  we  may  believe,  as  to 
whether  Jesus  was  worth  listening  to  and  whether 
He  had  any  message  from  Heaven.  He  thought  that 
by  offering  Him  his  hospitality  he  would  have  Him 
alone  by  Himself,  and  thus  could,  in  the  best  and 
most  successful  way,  determine  the  matter  which  he 
had  in  mind.  Everything  in  the  story  points  to 
this  as  the  correct  supposition  respecting  him.  Its 
consistency  with  the  details  which  are  mentioned, 
and  the  explanation  which  it  presents  for  the 
absence  of  certain  details  which  we  might  otherwise 
have  expected  to  find,  render  it  so  probable  that  we 
may  without  hesitation  accept  it.  This  Pharisee, 
therefore,  was  a  questioner  in  the  sphere  of  right- 
eousness and  life,  as  all  members  of  his  party  were  in 
greater  or  less  degree,  so  far  as  they  were  truly 
worthy  of  a  place  within  it.  He  would  know  what 
Jesus  had  to  say,  and  would  test  Him. 

If  this  is  the  right  view  of  the  matter,  we  may 
believe  that,  for  the  carrying  out  of  his  purpose,  he 
had  his  direct  questions  in  mind  —  many  of  them, 
perchance — which  he  was  prepared  to  present.  He 
was  ready  to  offer  them  so  soon  as  the  supper 
should  have  proceeded  far  enough  to  make  it  fitting 
to  do  so.  He  was  waiting,  perhaps  impatiently,  for 
the  proper  moment  to  come.  But  suddenly,  and  by 
an  accident  as  it  seemed,  a  new  turn  was  given  to 
his  thought,  and  a  question  which  appeared  to  him 
fundamental  to  all  others  was  started  in  his  mind. 

151 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

It  was  a  question  of  doubt  as  to  whether  Jesus  was 
a  prophet-teacher  at  all  —  whether  He  had  any 
prophetic  relation  to  the  truth  whatever. 

According  to  a  custom  of  the  region  and  of  the 
time,  which  allowed  strangers  to  enter  unbidden 
at  such  a  meal,  and  to  approach  the  guests  and 
speak  with  them,  a  woman  suddenly  came  into  the 
room  where  they  were,  and  at  once  drew  near  to 
Jesus  and  proceeded  to  anoint  His  feet  with  oint- 
ment which  she  had  brought.  This  person  was,  as 
the  writer  tells  us,  a  sinner.  Evidently  she  was,  to 
the  mind  of  the  Pharisee,  a  sinner  of  so  marked  a 
character  that  her  very  touch  was  a  defilement.  The 
current  of  his  thoughts  was  immediately  arrested. 
The  difficulties  connected  with  his  old  system  of 
belief  rushed  in  upon  him  at  once,  and  the  inquiries 
after  the  truth  must,  as  he  felt,  wait  until  these  were 
settled.  Is  the  man  a  prophet  at  all?  he  said  to 
himself.  A  prophet,  surely,  would  know  what  sort 
of  a  person  this  is.  But  apparently  he  does  not 
know.  A  prophet  must  not  suffer  himself  to  be  de- 
filed. But  he  is  allowing  this  to  happen,  with  no 
resistance  or  objection.  The  manifest  presence  of 
the  sinner  here,  does  it  not  prove  that  there  is  no 
prophet  here  ?  My  questions,  which  I  had  promised 
myself  the  asking,  are  useless  until  this  matter  is  de- 
termined ;  and  I  do  not  see  how  it  can  be  determined 
except  unfavourably  for  the  professed  teacher.  So 
long  as  this  difficulty,  thus  suggested,  remains,  he 
can  have  nothing  for  me.  The  teacher,  surely,  must 
precede  the  teachings,  and  be  the  authority  for  them. 
I  doubt  his  right  to  the  teacher's  office,  and  I  do  not 

152 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

believe  that  he  can  estabhsh  it.     What  I  had  hoped 
for  fails,  and  I  may  well  allow  him  to  depart. 

We  may  observe  with  interest  how  Jesus  met  his 
difficulty.  He  did  not  meet  it  by  argument,  or  by 
a  renewed  and  emphatic  assertion  of  what  He  claimed 
for  Himself.  He  did  not  attempt  to  show  him 
directly  or  by  reasoning  that  his  view  of  the  matter 
of  pollution  was  a  narrow  one,  founded  upon  a  mere 
superficial  view  of  the  letter  of  his  own  system.  He 
did  not  enter  at  all  into  the  sphere  of  his  questionings. 
He  went  behind  all  this,  and  farther  down  into  the 
depths  of  human  experience.  He  said  to  him  in 
briefest  words :  Let  me  tell  you  a  simple  story  of 
common  life.  A  money  lender  had  two  debtors,  to 
one  of  whom  he  had  lent  ten  times  as  much  as  he 
had  to  the  other.  Time  passed  on.  The  debts 
became  due,  and  when  he  found  that  both  alike  had 
nothing  wherewith  to  pay  him,  he  forgave  them 
both.  The  story  is  a  very  simple  one  —  is  it  not? 
It  has  not  much  to  do  with  the  question  whether  a 
man  has  a  prophetic  gift  from  God,  or  is  a  divinely- 
commissioned  teacher,  you  may  think.  Be  it  so,  if 
you  will  —  at  least,  for  the  moment.  We  will  wait 
for  the  decision  of  that  question,  which  will  come  in 
Its  own  time.  But  its  own  time  is  not  now.  Now  is 
the  time  for  something  other  than  this.  How  will  it 
be  about  what  follows  the  forgiveness?  Which  of  the 
two  men,  who  have  their  debts  forgiven,  will  love 
the  kindly  friend  the  most?  There  cannot  be  much 
doubt  as  to  this  point,  surely.  We  may  dispute 
about  the  other  question,  but  we  shall  agree  in  our 
answer  to  this :  The  one  to  whom  he  forgave  the 

153 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

most.  Let  us  make  our  starting-point  then  where 
we  agree,  and  after  this  look  outward  in  two  direc- 
tions. There  are  two  matters  on  which  your  mind 
is  resting  —  righteousness,  and  my  claim  to  be  a 
prophet.  The  one  is  a  matter  of  the  soul's  life ;  — 
the  other,  as  you  put  it,  a  question  of  the  mind's 
thinking.  You  are  placing  the  latter  before  the 
former.  You  should  place  the  former  before  the 
latter.  If  you  move  from  the  right  beginning,  you 
may  hope  to  reach  the  right  end.  What  then  does 
the  story  tell  you  about  the  true  righteousness? 
Think  of  this.  It  tells  you  how  it  originates,  and 
what  it  is.  Apply  the  story  to  real  life,  and  you 
will  understand  it. 

Thus  he  speaks  with  his  questioner.  The  man 
who  in  his  own  view  had  lived  in  accordance  with 
rules  and  had  had  few  failures ;  who  had  made  the 
letter  of  the  law  his  study  and  had  been  punctilious 
in  his  observance  of  it;  who  regarded  himself  even 
as  within  the  kingdom  of  God  because  of  his  birth 
and  education,  and  had  little  sense  of  sin,  makes  no 
demonstration  of  love,  because  he  has  none.  He  is 
cold  and  formal  and  critical,  because  there  has  been 
no  deep  movement  of  his  soul  and  no  sense  of  ruin 
or  danger.  The  sinner,  on  the  other  hand,  who  is 
conscious  of  the  fact,  and  who  therefore  feels  his 
need  of  help  and  of  deliverance,  is  the  one  who  is  on 
the  way  to  the  true  life,  because  the  soul  within  him 
is  stirred.  He  knows  where  he  stands,  and  will  love 
the  Divine  helper  who  lays  hold  upon  and  helps  him. 
It  is  when  the  soul  is  stirred  that  the  life  begins. 
All  life  shows  this.     What  a   new  light  the  words 

154 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

were  fitted  to  bring  into  the  Pharisee's  mind.  The 
action  of  the  woman,  which  seemed  to  his  dull  ap- 
prehension —  dulled  by  his  own  self-righteousness 
and  legalism  and  hterahsm — to  be  polluting  in  its 
character  because  she  was  a  sinner,  was  in  reality  the 
evidence  and  outflow  of  that  love  which  had  within 
itself  the  power  to  overcome  the  sin  and  reform  the 
life.  Righteousness  is  not  mere  action.  It  is  not 
mere  conformity  to  the  words  of  a  law.  It  is  such 
action  and  conformity  founded  upon  a  life-principle. 
Common  life  everywhere  tells  us  this.  Human  ex- 
perience, in  its  inmost  and  central  sources,  proves 
it.  Look  within  yourself,  and  you  will  be  a  witness 
to  the  truth.  Let  the  questions  of  life  thus  move 
within  the  sphere  of  life ;  —  and  when  these  ques- 
tions are  answered,  it  will  be  the  time  for  further 
questioning. 

And  now,  who  is  the  prophet?  The  man  who 
knows  this,  or  the  man  who  does  not?  The  man 
who  penetrates  by  his  clear  vision  into  the  secret 
beginnings  of  human  action  as  they  are  found  in 
the  first  impulses  of  the  soul,  or  he  who  never  gets 
far  enough  below  the  surface  of  things  to  think  of 
anything  except  the  external  defilement  of  meeting 
with  one  who  has  been  a  sinner?  The  prophet  is  a 
seer.  Which  of  the  two  is  it  that  sees  ?  The  prophet 
is  inspired  to  understand  the  Divine  idea  of  right- 
eousness. Which  of  the  two  gives  evidence  of  the 
inspiration?  —  The  story  of  experience  answers  both 
of  the  questions,  if  they  are  placed  in  their  right 
order.  And  why  should  it  not  —  for  the  forces 
which  are  illustrated  in  human  experience  are  the 

155 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

forces  which  move  life,  and  the  movement  of  life  is 
that  which  makes  the  man.  To  know  this  is  to  see 
the  truth,  for  all  that  is  good  centres  in  this 
movement. 

Another  revelation  which  the  story  has  for  us  is, 
as  to  the  way  in  which  Jesus  met  those  who  came 
to  Him  from  the  starting-point  of  the  deep  wants 
of  the  inner  life,  and  not  from  that  of  difficulties  or 
intellectual  questionings.  The  sinner  in  the  story 
knew  little,  as  we  may  believe  —  certainly,  she 
thought  little  now  —  of  the  points  in  the  legal 
system,  which  were  filling,  all  at  once,  the  mind 
of  the  Pharisee.  Life  had  passed,  to  her  apprehen- 
sion, so  far  beyond  the  questions  of  external  and 
ceremonial  defilement,  that  this  had  become  one  of 
the  minor  and  secondary  things.  The  helper  whose 
aid  she  felt  to  be  necessary  for  her  was  one  who 
should  see  the  life's  sources,  and  should  purify  and 
vitalise  them.  The  sense  of  sin  removed  all  diffi- 
culties but  one  from  the  mind.  That  one  was,  how 
to  become  free  from  sin's  power.  Everything  in  the 
narrative,  moreover,  seems  to  indicate  that,  even 
with  regard  to  the  great  question  of  the  renewal 
of  character,  she  had  but  limited  knowledge.  She 
did  not  recognise  her  own  faith,  apparently.  To 
the  Pharisee's  mind,  she  did  not  know  enough  to 
know  her  right  position  before  a  religious  teacher, 
or  to  ask  for  forgiveness.  Perhaps  she  had  not 
thought  far  enough,  to  think  of  asking  for  it.  But, 
in  some  way,  the  mind  of  this  sinner  had  been 
turned  to  Jesus.     From  what  she  had  seen  of  Him 

156 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

or  heard  of  Him  she  felt  that  there  was  a  great 
outflow  of  love  and  blessing  in  His  soul,  which  was 
ready  for  all  who  would  receive  it.  Possibly,  she 
was  conscious  of  having  experienced  already  some- 
what of  its  life-giving  power.  The  confidence  that 
the  blessing  was  in  Him,  or  the  consciousness  that 
the  beginning  of  its  influence  had  come  to  herself, 
led  her  to  draw  near  to  Him  now,  and  to  bestow 
upon  Him  a  gift  of  affection  and  reverence.  Her 
thought  was  wholly  occupied  with  this  one  thing. 
If  the  Pharisee,  or  if  Jesus  Himself  had  asked  her 
how  she  expected  to  secure  the  Divine  forgiveness 
and  to  be  set  right  with  God,  —  what  were  the 
steps  by  which  she  would  seek  the  gift,  in  order 
surely  to  attain  it,  or  what  was  the  precise  pathway 
back  from  sin  to  righteousness,  —  she  would  prob- 
ably have  found  herself  unable  to  answer.  She 
would  certainly  have  said  that  all  this  was  aside 
from  her  thought  at  the  moment.  She  was  now 
thinking  only  of  an  act  of  love,  —  perchance,  of 
grateful  love,  —  and  in  this  was  the  whole  purpose 
of  her  entering  the  house  where  they  were.  How 
different  was  her  condition  from  that  of  the  Phar- 
isee !  The  difference  was  that  which  always  exists 
—  which  manifests  itself  a  thousand  times  to  every 
careful  observer  of  human  nature,  and  is  illustrated  by 
examples  everywhere — between  the  cold  and  doubt- 
ing questioner  who  stands  outside  of  the  Christian 
system,  and  sees  difficulties  on  every  side  for  the 
mind  to  grapple  with,  and  the  man  who  knows  that 
sin  is  a  deadly  evil,  and  feels  its  power  within  himself 
to  be  too  great  for  his  own  strength  to  overcome. 

^57 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

But  what  did  Jesus  say  to  the  sinner?  He  did 
not  ask  questions  concerning  her  feeling ;  or  try  to 
draw  from  her  a  story  of  the  way  in  which  her  mind 
was  now  turning;  or  bid  her  place  her  present 
thoughts  and  impulses  beside  the  true  order  of  the 
plan  of  forgiveness  and  the  new  life,  and  thus  set 
her  upon  an  examination  of  herself;  or  even  in  any 
way  attempt  to  make  her  look  into  the  movement 
of  her  soul,  in  order  to  determine  its  character  or 
its  reality.  With  the  seer's  eye  which  belongs  to 
the  true  prophet.  He  saw  for  Himself,  in  the  act 
which  she  had  just  performed,  all  that  He  needed  to 
see,  and  then,  with  the  same  seer's  eye,  He  saw  that 
she  was  not  yet  prepared  to  study  the  movement. 

But  He  turned  to  the  Pharisee,  and  said,  Seest 
thou  this  woman?  Let  the  story  of  the  debtors 
apply  itself  to  you  and  to  her,  and  study  the  question 
of  the  forces  of  life,  as  you  make  the  application. 
You  will  find  what  you  do  not  yet  know —  what  she 
herself  does  not  yet  fully  realise  —  that  these  forces 
are  behind  the  act,  and  thus  that  the  true  life  has 
begun  in  her,  while  you  are  still  questioning  and 
doubting.  Then  He  details  what  she  had  done,  in 
contrast  with  what  the  Pharisee  himself  had  done, 
and  shows  by  the  repetition  and  the  contrast  the 
reality  of  the  vital  force  —  that  her  action  was  the 
overflowing  and  outpouring  of  a  love  which  involved 
all  things  in  itself  The  very  essence  of  the  living 
righteousness,  which  had  been  lost  out  of  the 
Pharisee's  conception  of  it,  was  in  this  love.  The 
love,  therefore,  may  prove,  even  to  your  questioning 
mind,  he  says  to  him   at  the  end,  that   the  sinner 

158 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

whose  presence  here  so  troubles  you, —  however 
many  her  sins  have  been,  and  they  have  indeed 
been  many, —  has  come  into  a  new  position.  Her 
sins  are  forgiven,  and  the  Divine  renewal  has  begun. 
She  has  found  God's  righteousness,  while  you  have 
lost  your  way  utterly  in  seeking  your  own. 

Moreover,  He  does  not  even  tell  what  she  has 
done,  or  picture  the  beauty  of  her  act  by  its  con- 
trast, to  the  sinner  herself.  He  lets  her  hear  it,  but 
does  not  set  it  before  her  as  an  explanation  of  the 
way  in  which  she  had  come  to  be  forgiven.  So 
far  is  He  from  dealing  with  her  after  the  manner 
of  an  examiner  into  the  evidences  of  character,  or 
according  to  the  successive  stages  of  a  plan,  —  He 
says  nothing  at  all  of  the  relation  of  her  love  to  her 
forgiveness,  except  to  the  Pharisee,  and  to  him 
nothing  except  that  he  might  know  that  she  was 
forgiven,  by  reason  of  the  evidence  of  the  new  life- 
power  which  her  love  gave.  Indeed  He  says  noth- 
ing in  any  way  to  herself,  until  all  this  had  passed. 
The  reasoning,  the  explanation,  the  pointing  to  the 
forces  of  life,  were  needed  only  for  the  questioning 
Pharisee.  His  dull  mind  —  dulled  by  his  own  doubt- 
ing—  must  have  some  answer.  For  the  sinner, 
who  was  as  yet  moving  according  to  the  simplest  of 
the  nobler  impulses  of  the  soul,  and  was  not  ready  to 
ask  or  understand  the  explanation,  or  to  know  any- 
thing of  the  philosophy  of  life,  there  was  nothing  until 
the  end,  and  then  only  the  one  word  of  assurance. 

Surely  there  is  a  lesson  which  is  full  of  suggestion 
for  us  in  the  story,  as  we  read  it  thus.     But  there  is 

159 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

another  revelation  which  it  has  for  us,  as  we  notice 
what  He  said  to  the  sinner,  after  those  who  were 
at  the  table  with  Him  had  expressed  their  astonish- 
ment at  His  assuming  the  power  of  forgiving  sin. 
He  now  tells  the  woman  herself  the  great  truth  of 
her  renewed  life — how  it  originated:  Thy  faith 
hath  saved  thee.  The  woman  did  not  apprehend 
the  truth  at  the  time.  Those  who  sat  at  meat  with 
Jesus  did  not  apprehend  it.  The  questioning  Phari- 
see, no  doubt,  had  his  mind  closed  against  it  as  the 
words  were  uttered,  for  his  thought  and  view  of 
righteousness  had  been  altogether  in  another  line. 
But  the  words,  nevertheless,  contained  the  central 
point  of  the  Christian  teaching,  and  they  declare  the 
truth  for  all.  The  faith  was  saving  because  it  was 
an  active  force.  It  went  forth  in  a  heartfelt  con- 
fidence towards  the  source  of  help.  It  laid  hold, 
believing,  upon  the  blessing  which  was  offered,  and 
upon  the  one  who  offered  it.  And  as  it  went  forth, 
it  proved  itself  to  be  a  uniting  power  between  the 
souls,  which  opened  the  way  for  all  life-giving  in- 
fluence to  pass  from  the  greater  Friend  to  the 
weaker  one,  and  all  loving  feeling  and  action  to  go 
from  the  one  who  needed  help  to  the  one  who  gave 
it.  The  life-time  afterwards  was  but  the  unfolding 
of  what  was  here  said.  Faith  originated  what  love 
proved.  Faith  worked,  through  the  love-element  in 
it,  towards  all  good ;  and  love  grew  deeper  and 
richer,  as  faith  became  more  and  more  beautifully 
an  undoubting  confidence. 

We  question  the  Christian  system  from  outside  of 
it,  and  then  from  inside  of  it;  and  we  involve  our- 

i6o 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

selves,  how  often,  in  difficulties  everywhere.  What 
is  the  relation  of  faith  to  love,  we  ask  from  the  outer 
position,  and  the  inner  one  also ;  and,  Has  the 
movement  of  the  two  been,  in  our  individual  ex- 
perience, we  say  to  ourselves,  just  what  it  ought  to 
have  been?  We  can  separate  the  two  things  in  our 
philosophy,  and  in  our  setting  forth  of  the  plan. 
But  in  human  life  they  move,  many  times,  in  such 
close  and  intricate  intermingling,  that  they  can 
scarcely  be  recognised  in  their  independence.  The 
man  distresses  himself  in  seeking  after  faith,  when 
the  loving  actions  of  his  life  bear  clearest  testimony 
to  its  existence.  Or  he  deceives  himself,  perchance, 
by  the  thought  that  his  love  has  no  divine  origin  or 
evidencing  power,  when,  if  he  will  look  into  his 
soul's  workings,  he  will  see  that  everything  in  the 
inward,  or  the  outward,  life  is  inspired  by  an  un- 
doubting  confidence  and  trust  in  the  Divine  Friend. 
The  faith,  as  in  every  union  of  souls,  is  the  first  life- 
producing  force.  The  love  is  the  offspring  and  the 
proof — the  flower  and  fruitage  —  of  the  faith.  But 
they  abide  together  through  the  years,  working 
harmoniously  in  every  line,  and  become  so  nearly 
one  that  the  man  only  knows  the  oneness — the 
believing  love  and  the  loving  belief.  Yet  the  faith, 
notwithstanding  this,  ever  saves,  and  the  love 
proves;  and  the  answer  of  both  together  to  the 
man's  questionings  as  to  himself  is :  Thy  sins  are 
forgiven. 

There  is  one  more  revelation  or  suggestion  which 
the   story    gives,    as    it    leaves  us.     The    last   word 
II  i6i 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

addressed  to  the  sinner  bids  her  go  in  peace. 
There  is  no  such  last  word  to  the  Pharisee,  So  far 
as  we  are  told,  he  remains  in  the  midst  of  his  ques- 
tionings and  his  difficulties  —  waiting  for  the  answer- 
ing and  removing  of  them  by  some  explanation 
which  shall  be  more  direct,  and  shall  be  more  satis- 
factory to  his  mind  or  his  reasoning  powers.  The 
accident  of  the  hour  had  brought  him  very  near  to 
the  gate  of  the  true  life.  But  he  could  not  suffer 
Jesus  to  open  it  for  him,  because  an  old  thought 
connected  with  his  old  system  of  opinions  made  him 
doubt  whether  Jesus  was,  after  all,  a  prophet.  How 
could  a  prophet  stand  by  the  gate  with  such  a  sin- 
ner and  allow  himself  to  be  defiled  by  a  polluting 
touch.  Settle  the  difficulty  first,  and  look  for  the 
life  afterwards.  So  it  is  always  with  the  doubting 
questioner  —  in  this  age,  as  in  the  first  age  — in  our 
company,  as  in  the  company  of  those  who  were  at 
the  table  with  Jesus  on  that  memorable  day.  The 
error  into  which  the  doubter  falls  is  a  fundamental 
one.  Christianity  deals  with  life.  It  is  life.  Its 
working  moves  along  the  line  of  the  soul's  deepest 
and  truest  experience.  It  is  the  most  natural  of  all 
things,  as  it  moves  thus.  What  could  be  simpler  or 
truer  than  the  movement  of  the  renewing  forces  in 
the  case  of  this  sinner,  of  whom  the  story  tells  us? 
Who  can  question  for  a  moment  the  reality  of  the 
power  which  was  within  her  as  she  came  to  Jesus, 
and  as  she  went  forth  from  His  presence?  And 
who  that  understands  anything  about  human  ex- 
perience, and  the  relations  of  one  soul  to  another, 
can   fail   to   see,   that    peace    and    forgiveness   are 

162 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

vitally  related  to  faith  and  love  as  she  manifested 
them? 

Christianity  goes  with  us,  indeed,  into  the  mys- 
teries of  life  and  of  thought.  It  answers  many 
questions  and  unfolds  many  mysteries  for  us  as  we 
move  patiently,  and  with  open  and  honest  minds, 
through  the  years.  But  its  office  is  not  to  remove 
difficulties,  but  to  remove  sin.  Its  mission  and  pur- 
pose are  not  to  satisfy  the  mind  in  all  its  inquiries 
and  reasonings,  but  to  give  new  life  to  the  soul. 
The  mind  may  fall  into  disbelief  anywhere  in  the 
sphere  of  life  and  its  impelling  forces.  It  may 
originate  it  for  itself  and  by  its  own  efforts.  You 
can  doubt  friendship,  or  family  love,  or  patriotism, 
or  true  righteousness  —  and  can  lose  them  all  in  your 
doubtings  —  if  you  put  yourself  outside  of  them,  as 
it  were,  and  refuse  to  believe  until  every  difficulty 
which  your  philosophy  or  your  scepticism  may  start 
is  set  aside.  They  are,  however,  none  the  less  real 
on  this  account.  Their  very  life  and  sweetness  and 
power  belong  in  another  sphere  than  that  of  the 
difficulties,  and  the  questioning  of  the  soul  which 
brings  it  to  the  door  of  the  sphere  where  they 
belong  is  the  only  one  which  reaches  the  blessing. 

So  is  it  with  Christian  living.  What  an  insignifi- 
cant thing  as  related  to  this,  was  the  question 
whether  Jesus  was  a  prophet  who  had  never  been 
defiled  by  the  touch  of  a  sinner,  and  thus  a  prophet 
who  could  meet  the  demands  of  the  Pharisee's  pre- 
conceived ideas.  What  a  momentous  one,  on  the 
other  hand,  it  was,  that  He  was  a  seer  into  life —  a 
man  who  knew  the  way  to  forgiveness,  and  right 

163 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

character  —  that  character  which  comes  out  of  the 
purified  fountains  of  the  soul,  and  is,  when  it  thus 
comes,  the  grandest  and  most  real  thing  in  exis- 
tence. Life  has  its  own  laws  and  its  own  forces. 
The  way  to  live  is  the  way  of  discovering  the  forces 
and  using  them.  Doubts  and  questionings  are  not 
life.  They  are,  rather,  its  opposite.  Life  is  posi- 
tive. Life  is  movement.  Life  is  faith  in  the  reality 
of  things.  Life  is  love  which  animates  and  inspires 
and  glorifies  the  soul.  The  sinner  of  the  story  — 
many  as  her  sins  had  been  —  had  life,  at  this  hour. 
The  Pharisee  had  doubtings,  and  no  noble  impulse 
which  stirred  the  man. 

And  so  peace  came  to  the  one,  but  not  to  the 
other.  The  peace  of  the  soul  is  the  result  of  faith. 
The  man  who  doubts  and  questions  cannot  be  at 
rest.  The  settlement  of  his  questionings  must  be 
secured  before  quietness  and  truest  happiness  can 
be  his.  But  when  faith  enters  the  heart  as  an  active 
power,  and  puts  forth  its  energy  through  love,  and 
unites  the  soul  with  God,  —  then  the  Divine  gift 
comes  in  answer  to  the  faith.  The  man  lives,  and 
works,  and  moves  in  all  his  movements  after  the 
Divine  manner.  There  is  peace  in  believing  — 
an  ever-abiding,  ever-deepening  peace.  Jesus  knew 
this,  and  knew  the  way  to  realise  it.  He  was  a 
seer  who  saw  the  centre  of  the  soul  and  saw  how 
it  could  be  purified.  He  was  one  whom  no  sinner 
with  the  true  life-impulse  within  him  could  defile 
by  his  touch,  for  He  carried  within  Himself  the 
transforming  power  through  which  all  life  is  made 
holy.     He  was  the  helper  for  the  sin-burdened  man, 

164 


THE   INNER  LIES 

and  the  one  who  spoke,  as  with  the  Divine  voice, 
the  word  of  forgiveness  for  the  past  and  peace  for 
the  future.  If  you  will  place  yourself  near  to  Him, 
my  friend,  as  He  stands  at  the  gateway  of  life,  you 
will  find  the  great  blessing.  As  you  recognise  in 
Him  the  seer  who  sees  the  sources  and  forces  of 
the  soul's  living,  you  will  also  discover  Him  to  be 
the  true  prophet  of  the  truth  and  of  the  ages. 


i6s 


XII 

Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  7nore.  —  Ephesians  iv.  28. 

THE  words  of  this  sentence  are  a  part  of  the 
practical  section  of  the  epistle  addressed  by 
Paul  to  the  Ephesian  Christians,  They  form  one  of 
the  elements  which  make  up  the  leading  exhorta- 
tion of  the  letter :  that  the  readers  should  walk 
worthily  of  the  calling  wherewith  they  were  called ; 
and  this  exhortation,  by  the  very  manner  in  which 
it  is  introduced  —  I  therefore  beseech  you — is 
founded  upon  the  doctrinal  teaching  of  the  preced- 
ing chapters.  They  afford  us,  accordingly,  an 
illustration  of  the  way  in  which  the  Divinely-com- 
missioned Apostle  would  bring  the  Christian  truth 
to  bear  upon  conduct.  Examples,  however,  always 
pass  in  their  teaching  beyond  their  own  immediate 
and  narrow  limits,  and  impress  upon  the  mind  not 
only  particular  lessons,  but  general  ones.  Let  me 
offer  some  thoughts  in  connection  with  the  words 
as  bearing  upon  the  results  of  our  faith  in  our  ac- 
tion and  daily  living. 

In  the  first  place,  we  may  notice  the  immediate 
connection  between  this  exhortation  and  the  urgent 
request  or  demand,  which  the  writer  makes,  that 
these  Christians  should  hold  firmly  the  true  Chris- 

166 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

tiaii  doctrine.  There  is  one  Lord,  one  faith,  one 
baptism,  he  says.  In  walking  worthily  of  your 
calling,  therefore,  you  should  give  all  diligence  to 
keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  and  the  unity  of  the 
faith.  You  should  be  careful  not  to  be  carried 
about  with  every  wind,  or  to  be  tossed  to  and  fro, 
after  the  wiles  of  error,  but  should  possess,  and 
cherish,  and  grow  up  more  and  more  into  the  truth. 
But,  in  order  to  do  this,  and  in  doing  it,  you  should 
cease  —  because  of  the  new  life-principle  in  the  inner 
life  —  to  give  yourselves  up  any  longer  to  the  old 
practices  of  your  former  unchristian  state,  and 
should  do  what  is  right  and  good.  The  truth  of 
the  doctrine  is  to  be  sought  for  and  to  be  main- 
tained, for  it  alone  is  the  Divine  truth.  But  the 
doctrine  has  no  vitality,  and  no  fulness  of  meaning, 
without  the  true  living  which  is  the  legitimate  out- 
growth of  it.  Hence  the  true  living  is  the  end,  — 
the  doctrine  is  only  the  means. 

The  Apostolic  preachers  were  not  the  founders  of 
a  philosophical  system,  or  professors  in  a  school 
of  theological  science,  to  whose  minds  the  setting 
forth  of  truth  in  definite  and  accurate  and  system- 
atic formulas  was  the  aim  of  their  efforts  or  the 
object  of  their  career.  They  were  proclaimers  of 
a  way  of  salvation  —  of  reforming  and  sanctifying 
the  soul  —  of  delivering  mankind,  and  each  individ- 
ual man,  from  sin,  and  bringing  all  to  righteousness. 
Their  unfolding  of  the  system  which  they  taught 
was  wholly  for  a  practical  end.  We  find  them 
accordingly,  in  all  their  writings,  placing  the  prac- 
tical   application    to    the    personal   and   inmost   life 

167 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

after  the  doctrinal  teaching  and  argument,  and 
making  the  latter  preparatory  to  the  former.  They 
did  not  enter  into  religious  controversy  for  its  own 
sake.  They  did  not  stand  on  the  watch-towers  of 
Zion  to  defend  the  truth  simply  as  truth,  but  rather 
to  defend,  and  explain,  and  enforce  it  because  they 
believed  it  to  be  the  only  foundation  of  right  living. 
It  was  for  the  reason  that  the  Christian  teaching 
would,  through  the  working  of  its  power  within  his 
soul,  lead  the  man  who  had  been  wont  to  steal  to 
do  so  no  more  —  and  for  this  reason  as  the  first  and 
great  and  all-important  reason  —  that  Paul  urged 
upon  him  to  guard  himself  against  the  deceits  of 
error,  and  to  keep  the  faith.  If  the  man  succeeded 
in  holding  the  faith-system  in  its  every  minutest 
point,  so  that  the  sleight  of  men  or  their  cunning 
craftiness  could  not  move  him  in  the  smallest  degree 
from  the  form  of  sound  words  —  so  long  as  he  did 
not  cease  to  steal  his  right  belief  was  worthless, — 
the  Apostolic  message  had  done  him  no  good. 

The  claim  which  Christianity  made  for  itself,  as 
it  entered  the  world ;  the  ground  on  which  it  asked 
men  to  receive  it,  was,  not  that  it  contained  a 
system  of  doctrine  beautiful  to  contemplate,  but 
that  it  presented  the  best,  and  even  the  only  way  of 
developing  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man.  On 
the  satisfying  of  this  claim  its  success  in  the  world 
must  depend.  The  Master  accepted  the  necessity 
of  the  position  which  He  assumed.  By  their  fruits 
ye  shall  know  them.  He  set  forth  as  the  principle 
of  judging;  and  His  immediate  followers  fully 
recognised  what  He  had  set  before  them.     As  the 

i68 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

ages  have  moved  forward,  however,  the  Church 
has,  many  times,  forgotten,  or  in  large  measure  lost 
sight  of  this  fact.  It  has,  how  often,  given  itself  to 
fiery,  and  even  savage  discussion  about  the  details 
of  believing,  and  become  careless  and  negligent 
about  the  heart-power  of  faith  in  the  individual 
man,  and  its  results  in  action.  It  has  demanded  the 
acceptance  of  doctrine  as  the  essential  condition  of 
entrance  into  the  heavenly  kingdom,  and  has  ceased 
to  remember  the  Pauline  word :  If  I  know  all  mys- 
teries and  all  knowledge  in  the  Christian  system, 
and  if  I  have  all  faith  so  as  to  remove  mountains, 
but  have  not  love,  I  am  nothing.  But  this  is  because 
the  Church  has  not  reached  the  standard  of  the 
Christianity  which  it  professes,  or  been  guided  by 
the  teaching  of  Christ  and  His  Apostles  in  the  truest 
and  deepest  meaning  of  it. 

I  ask  you  then,  in  the  second  place,  to  observe 
how  Christianity  approaches  those  to  whom  it  offers 
its  teaching.  To  take  what  will  seem  to  us  all, 
doubtless,  one  of  the  more  extreme  cases  —  how 
does  it  come  to  the  man  who  has  been  a  thief? 
It  lays  before  him  its  doctrine  of  salvation  by  faith, 
in  the  simplest  way,  and  asks  him  to  accept  it  and 
make  it  a  power  —  the  power — in  his  life.  How 
shall  I  do  this?  he  says.  The  first  thing  for  you  to 
do,  it  answers — the  special  thing  for  you  as  an 
individual  man  —  in  developing  the  new  life  within 
you  and  opening  the  way  for  its  fruitage  is,  to  give 
up  your  old  habit.  Let  him  that  stole  steal  no 
more.     This  ceasing  to  steal  is,  for  you,  the  turning- 

169 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

point  of  your  career.  In  this  way  only  can  you 
reverse  your  course,  and  free  yourself  from  your  sin. 
You  may  believe  anything  or  everything  —  you  may 
admire  the  precepts  or  doctrines  given  you  by  the 
New  Testament  —  you  may  cultivate  many  virtues 
and  have  many  good  emotions,  but  if  you  continue 
your  course  of  stealing,  without  effort  to  alter  it,  you 
are  no  Christian.  After  the  same  manner,  as  he  goes 
on  in  his  life  —  when  the  temptation  and  the  weak- 
ness which  come  down  to  him  from  his  old  way  of 
living  make  him  liable  to  fall  into  sin,  the  same  voice 
addresses  itself  to  his  mind  and  heart.  Steal  no 
more :  —  let  this  be  the  motto  and  maxim  of  your 
life. 

Christianity  does  not  say  to  such  a  man,  guard 
yourself  against  drunkenness ;  perhaps  the  man  has 
never  been  intoxicated  in  his  life-time ;  - —  nor,  take 
care  not  to  be  angry;  perhaps  he  is  good-natured 
under  all  circumstances; — nor,  let  no  corrupt 
speech  proceed  out  of  your  mouth ;  possibly  his 
speech  is  not  corrupt.  It  does  not  divide  its  forces, 
or  begin  its  attack  upon  him  in  the  wrong  place.  It 
concentrates  its  energy  upon  that  which  is  the  centre 
of  the  evil,  —  that  which  stands  in  the  way  of  the 
Divine  life  in  the  soul  —  and  says,  in  a  trumpet-tone 
and  with  a  never-ceasing  repetition,  You  have  been 
a  thief.     Be  an  honest  man. 

The  extreme  character  of  the  case  supposed  takes 
it  out  of  our  experience,  but  may  only  render  its 
lesson  more  clear  and  more  emphatic.  It  is  a  rare 
thing,  no  doubt,  that  one  of  our  ordinary  churches 
contains  in  its  membership  a  man  who  lived,  before 

170 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

his  conversion,  the  hfe  of  a  thief.  The  churches  of 
the  ApostoHc  age,  whose  members  had  been  brought 
out  of  the  vices  of  heathenism,  may  have  had  in 
their  circle  many  such  persons.  But  the  message  of 
Christianity  is  a  similar  one  to  all.  As  it  opens  its 
teaching  to  every  man,  it  bids  him  cease  to  practise 
his  own  peculiar  sins  and  become  a  new  man. 
What  is  the  membership  of  our  churches?  Not 
composed,  indeed,  of  men  who,  in  the  vulgar  sense, 
have  been  in  the  habit  of  stealing.  But,  in  how 
many  cases,  of  men  who  are  willing  to  take  advan- 
tage of  their  neighbours,  or  who  in  a  petty  way  and 
in  minor  things  fall  below  the  highest  standard  of 
honesty,  or  who  cherish  their  money  as  if  it  were  the 
greatest  good,  or  who  are  ungenerous,  or  are  tyran- 
nical in  their  families,  provoking  their  children  to 
wrath,  or  are  so  immovably  obstinate  as  to  make  all 
who  are  dependent  on  them  lose  much  of  the  happi- 
ness of  life,  or  are  so  narrow-minded  that  they  have 
no  charity  for  others'  views.  To  each  of  these  classes 
of  persons,  and  the  many  others  of  which  we  see 
examples  in  the  churches  of  every  name,  the 
Christian  teaching  directs  its  demands  just  where 
they  are  needed.  To  the  man  who  never  gives  K 
away  his  money,  for  example,  it  does  not  say,  first  of 
all,  Attend  the  weekly  prayer-meeting;  Give  an 
hour  daily  to  religious  meditation ;  Establish  family 
prayers  in  your  house.  Much  less  does  it  exhort 
him  to  give  up  slandering  his  neighbours — -a  thing 
which  he  has  never  had  any  impulse  to  do ;  or  to 
avoid  quickness  of  angry  passion  —  to  which  his 
natural  disposition  is  a  stranger.     It  penetrates  the 

171 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

inmost  heart  of  his  living,  and  bids  him  begin,  and 
begin  at  once,  to  give  away  his  money  as  he  ought 
to  give  it.  The  love  of  that  money  is  the  stronghold 
of  evil  within  his  soul;  and,  until  it  is  taken  away  in 
its  all-controlling  force,  the  work  of  Christianity  is 
either  not  begun,  or  not  perfected,  in  his  case,  no 
matter  how  sweet-tempered  he  may  be,  or  how  many 
hours  he  may  spend  in  meditation.  So  to  the 
obstinate  man,  it  says,  Lay  aside  your  obstinacy ;  to 
the  narrow-minded,  Give  up  your  narrow-minded- 
ness ;  to  the  man  who  is  indolent.  Be  earnest  and 
laborious ;  to  each  and  every  man.  Cease  to  do  the 
particular  evil  thing  or  things  which  you,  personally 
and  individually,  are  in  the  habit  of  doing.  Build  up 
character  by  beginning  at  the  foundation. 

It  deals  with  men  as  John  the  Baptist  did  with  the 
different  classes  who  came  before  him.  To  the 
publicans,  —  as  they  asked  him,  What  must  we 
do?  —  he  answered.  Extort  no  more  than  that  which 
is  appointed  you.  This  was  the  gateway  of  a 
righteous  life  in  their  case.  To  the  soldiers,  pre- 
senting the  same  question,  his  reply  was,  Do  violence 
to  no  man,  and,  Be  content  with  your  wages.  To 
the  multitudes  of  selfish  listeners,  who  desired  to 
know  his  demand  upon  them,  he  said.  He  that  hath 
two  coats,  let  him  impart  to  him  that  hath  none,  and 
he  that  hath  food,  let  him  do  likewise.  How  simple 
the  answer  was.  Be  content  with  your  wages.  Be 
satisfied  with  your  just  dues.  Be  charitable  and 
generous.  The  answer  is  the  same  to-day :  Do  the 
duty  which  lies  directly  before  you  in  your  individ- 
ual pathway.     Abandon  the  wrong  in  your  feelings, 

172 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

your  action,  your  attitude  towards  others,  your  daily 
living,  whatever  it  may  be.  Let  the  inward  life- 
power  which  you  receive  from  the  new  faith  impel 
you  to  do  thus.  This  is  the  way  in  which  you  are 
to  begin  or  to  go  forward  in  the  Christian  course. 

Whether  you  are  a  Christian  believer  already  or 
not,  my  friend,  the  Christian  teaching  calls  you  to  x 
one  thing :  to  look  at  your  own  life  —  not  at  mankind 
in  general,  or  at  the  men  around  you,  but  at  your 
own  life  —  and  to  see  what  is  your  own  evil  habit  or 
sin.  Is  it  dishonesty,  or  unfaithfulness  in  the  dis- 
charge of  duties,  or  idleness,  or  censoriousness,  or 
frivolity,  or  disregard  of  others'  feelings,  or  any 
major  or  minor  fault,  as  the  world  measures  the 
greater  and  the  less.  Whatever  it  may  be,  —  and  ,- 
we  all  know  what  it  is,  in  the  depths  of  our  souls  — 
the  word  that  comes  to  us  is:  Put  an  end  to  it; 
overcome  it ;  let  its  place  be  taken  by  the  opposite 
virtue ;  just  as  to  him  that  stole  it  is,  Steal  no  more, 
but  labour,  working  with  your  own  hands,  that  you 
may  have  whereof  to  give  to  him  that  hath  need.  It 
is  a  thoroughly  individual  matter  —  this  Christian  ^^ 
doctrine.  For  this  reason,  it  strikes  at  the  root  of 
character,  and  is  truly  reformatory  of  the  life.  It 
does  not  leave  the  inquirer  or  the  disciple  to  fill  his 
hours  with  mere  meditation  on  the  beauty  of  holi- 
ness, or  even  on  the  love  of  Christ  —  much  less  with 
passing  judgment  on  sins  of  which  some  men,  but 
not  himself,  are  guilty.  But  it  summons  him,  for 
the  love  of  Christ  and  for  His  sake,  to  commit  his 
own  sins  no  more ;  and  if  it  cannot  persuade  him  to 
do  this,  its  work  for  him  is  a  failure. 

173 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

We  see  thus,  in  the  third  place,  that  the  success 
of  Christianity  in  the  world  can  be  hoped  for  mainly 
—  if  not,   indeed,   only  —  from   its   success    in   this 

"^  way  in  individual  lives.  We  are  passing,  at  present, 
through  a  season  of  great  and  widespread  doubt. 
Everything  connected  with  the  Christian  system  is 
questioned  or  denied.  The  enemies  of  the  faith  are 
growing  bolder,  and  its  friends  are  sometimes  prone 
to  be  discouraged.  What  —  above  all  things  else  — 
is  to  check  the  evil,  and  to  prove  to  mankind  —  to 
the  doubters  and  deniers,  even  —  the  truth  of  our 
faith?  The  thing  which  can  surely  accomplish  the 
end  is,  that  every  Christian  believer  should  do  just 
what  has  been  referred  to  —  put  aside,  by  reason  of 

-  his  faith  and  because  of  its  power  within  him,  the 
wrong  that  is  in  his  own  life,  and  bring  into  its  place 
the  right.  When  this  is  done,  the  fruits  will  bear 
their  own  irresistible  witness  to  the  tree.     The  world 

^  will  believe  the  doctrine,  when  it  sees  the  life. 

Let  us  take  the  case  of  a  single  community  — 
the  one,  for  example,  in  which  we  have  our  abiding 
place.  Who  can  doubt  that,  if  every  professing 
Christian  in  such  a  community  were  to  show  to  all 

'  about  him  that  the  Christian  principle,  implanted  in 
his  heart,  was  really  overcoming  the  evils  of  his  char- 
acter, the  power  of  Christianity  would  be  multiplied 
tenfold  throughout  the  community.  And  if  it  were 
so  everywhere,  how  long  would  doubts  about  the 
truth  of  the  system  continue?  We  do  not  need 
laborious  defences  of  the  faith  by  able  disputants 
so  much  as  conformity  to  what  the  faith  teaches  in  the 
daily  actions  which  spring  from  the  inner  life  of  the 

174 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

man.  Keep  the  unity  of  the  faith,  not  by  discus- 
sion and  reasoning  among  yourselves  or  with  the  ^ 
enemy,  but  rather  by  living  and  acting  as  true  dis- 
ciples of  Christ.  The  power  of  the  truth  and  the 
triumph  of  the  faith  are  in  the  hands  of  each  be- 
liever. He  must  be  faithful  to  the  charge  committed 
to  him,  faithful  in  his  own  sphere  and  in  his  own 
life,  or  the  victory  will  become  so  much  harder  to 
attain  or  so  much  longer  delayed.  If  Christian  men 
everywhere,  and  always,  will  practise  the  virtues  — 
the  common,  human  virtues,  as  they  are  sometimes 
called  —  which  Christianity  teaches,  and  will  show 
by  their  lives  that  they  practise  them  under  the  in- 
fluence and  teaching  of  Christian  love,  the  sceptics 
will  lose  the  power  of  their  scepticism,  so  far  as 
other  men  are  concerned,  and  they  will  be  the  ob- 
ject of  fear  and  apprehension  no  more. 

Our  train  of  thought  thus  far  readily  suggests  to 
us,  as  a  fourth  matter  of  reflection,  the  answer  to  the 
question  of  duty  for  each  and  every  Christian  as 
he  stands  related  to  the  church  and  to  the  world. 
Those  who  have  recently  entered  the  Christian  life, 
and  especially  those  who  are  young  men  or  women, 
are  often  anxious  about  the  matter  of  work.  What 
shall  they  do  as  disciples  of  Christ?  This  matter  of 
religious  work  has  been  made  peculiarly  prominent 
of  late  years,  and  many  are  perplexed  about  it  — 
ready  to  put  forth  their  efforts,  but  not  knowing 
how,  or  when,  or  where.  To  such  persons,  and  to 
all,  the  Christian  teaching  says :  The  great  power 
of  the  truth  in  the  world  is  the  individual  life  —  the 

175 


y- 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

inner  life  of  the  individual  as  manifesting  itself  by  the 
outgoing  of  its  own  forces  into  true  and  righteous 
personal  living  among  men.  Your  greatest  power, 
my  friend,  lies  in  your  ceasing,  evidently  to  all 
around  you,  to  be  what  you  were  as  an  unconverted 
man,  and  in  being  the  opposite.  What  did  Paul  say 
to  the  Ephesian  church  members,  old  and  young 
alike?  He  said.  Let  all  bitterness,  and  wrath,  and 
anger,  and  clamour,  and  railing  be  put  away  from 
you,  with  all  malice.  Let  there  be  no  covetousness, 
or  uncleanness,  or  falsehood,  or  unfruitful  works  of 
darkness  among  you.  Speak  the  truth,  each  one  of 
you,  with  his  neighbour.  Let  not  the  sun  go  down 
upon  your  wrath.  If  any  one  has  been  accustomed, 
in  his  former  life,  to  steal,  let  him  steal  no  more. 
In  any  and  every  way,  be  no  longer  a  partaker  with 
the  sons  of  disobedience.  Put  off  the  old  man  from 
yourself,  and  put  on  the  new  man.  Give  to  him 
that  hath  need.  Be  kind,  tender-hearted,  forgiving 
each  other.  If  you  are  a  child,  obey  your  parents, 
and  honour  them.  If  you  are  a  father,  see  that  you 
do  not  provoke  your  children.  Whatever  your  con- 
dition, walk  in  that  condition  worthily  of  the  calling 
wherewith  you  were  called.  Be  thus  imitators  of 
God,  as  dear  children.  This  was  the  work  which  he 
gave  these  early  Christians  to  do ;  and  as  they  did 
it  they  commended  the  faith  which  they  professed  to 
all  about  them,  and  the  Church  grew  in  numbers 
and  in  power. 

The  same  message  comes  to  Christians  every- 
where, in  our  day.  You  desire,  my  friend,  to  do 
something  for  Christ  —  to    exert   an    influence    for 

176 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

Him,  and  His  cause,  in  the  place  and  among  the 
community  where  you  Hve ;  and  you  ask.  What  is 
the  work,  and  where  is  the  opening  for  it?  The 
Apostle's  answer  is  :  It  opens  in  your  own  individual 
daily  living.  Your  life  may  be  very  limited  in  its 
circle  of  action ;  it  may  be  very  wide  in  its  range. 
But  the  message  is  the  same.  Are  you  a  father?  — 
I  take  an  example  from  the  life  of  those  who  are 
mature  or  older  men  —  see  how  you  are  living  with 
and  before  your  household  and  your  children.  If 
you  have  been  wilful,  or  tyrannical,  or  unsympa- 
thetic, or  prone  to  insist  upon  your  own  views  or 
wishes,  to  the  disregard  of  those  who  are  under 
your  care  —  if  you  have  not  been  tender-hearted  or 
forgiving,  considerate  or  magnanimous,  free  from 
wrath  or  bitterness  —  go  home  to  your  house  to- 
day, and  apply  to  yourselves  the  bidding  which  Paul 
gave  to  the  men  who  had  been  stealing :  that  they 
should  do  so  no  more,  but  should  live  as  honest 
and  true  men.  Begin  to  be  kind ;  put  away  wilful- 
ness ;  let  your  children  know  that  you  are  ready  to 
consider  their  feelings,  and  not  only  their  feelings, 
but  their  thoughts  and  opinions;  show  them  that 
your  own  opinions  are  not  held,  and  violently  en- 
forced upon  them,  because  you  inherited  them  from 
your  fathers,  or  formed  them  under  the  influences 
of  a  former  generation,  which  influences  no  longer 
exist.  Be  a  Christian  man,  in  all  sympathy,  gentle- 
ness, large-mindedness,  self-sacrifice,  sincerity,  per- 
fect truth  —  doing  every  duty  of  your  position  as  a 
father,  as  Christ  would  have  you  do  it. 

How  long  a  time  would  pass,  my  friend,  before 

12  Ijr? 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

your  household  would  begin  to  feel  the  power  of 
Christianity  as  they,  perchance,  had  never  felt  it 
before?  How  long,  before  the  knowledge  and  in- 
fluence of  your  Christian  living  would  reach  men 
outside  of  your  household,  and  they  would  begin 
to  say  to  one  another,  and  to  themselves.  There  is 
a  truth  in  the  doctrine  which  that  man  professes  to 
hold,  for  it  has  gone  down  into  the  recesses  and 
fountains  of  his  moral  being,  and  made  him  a  new 
and  lovely  man?  And  what  Christian  work  for  the 
neighbourhood,  or  town,  or  city,  could  be  better 
than  this?  What  work  of  yours  could,  by  any 
means,  be  half  as  effective?  But  this  lies  directly 
before  you,  and  may  be  begun  in  your  own  dwelling 
to-day. 

You  are  a  young  man,  perchance,  just  working 
your  way  into  life.  What  is  the  call  to  you?  To 
exhibit  faithfulness  in  all  little  things ;  to  be  truth- 
ful, honest,  upright;  to  be  manly,  earnest,  devoted 
to  what  is  good ;  to  be  kindly,  ready  for  every  ser- 
vice of  friendliness,  a  generous  Christian  youth. 
There  is  work  enough  to  do,  without  turning  aside 
from  that  which  God  opens  before  you  where  you 
are.  You  need  not  seek  it.  It  is  present  with  you, 
and  meets  you  at  every  step.  Christ  desires  you  to 
be  a  Christian  in  your  own  sphere,  and  in  your  own 
heart.  By  being  so,  you  exert  an  influence  greater 
than  you  can  in  any  other  way. 

That  positive  Christian  efforts  for  the  religious 
welfare  of  the  community — teaching,  and  exhorta- 
tion, and  persuasion,  and  benevolent  aiding  and  giv- 
ing, and  the  many  other  things  which  we  think  of  as 

178 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

connected  with  this  matter  —  are  demanded,  no 
Christian  will  deny.  These  things  are  of  vast  im- 
portance. They  are  a  vital  and  essential  part  of  the 
duty  of  the  Church.  They  constitute,  in  no  incon- 
siderable measure,  that  for  which  the  Church  exists. 
But  as  we  read  the  Apostolic  letters  to  the  early 
churches — though  the  command  to  make  known 
the  good-tidings  everywhere  is  most  clearly  set 
forth  —  it  is  a  most  noticeable  and  impressive  fact, 
that  the  burden  of  the  practical  exhortations,  which 
are  represented  as  growing  out  of  the  Christian 
truth,  is  not  the  fulfilling  of  this  command,  but  the 
developing  of  personal  Christian  hfe.  How  strik- 
ingly all  the  Epistles  abound  in  urgent  appeals  to 
the  readers  to  be  honest,  honourable,  merciful,  pure, 
generous,  truth-telling,  gentle; — not  to  be  extor- 
tionate, covetous,  lovers  of  money,  wrathful ;  —  not 
to  be  contentious,  or  given  to  much  wine,  or  men- 
pleasers,  or  full  of  envyings  and  jealousy ;  —  not 
to  lie,  or  deceive,  or  be  guilty  of  slander,  or  of 
hatred. 

It  was  the  individual  soul  that  the  Divinely  com- 
missioned preachers  were  aiming  at  and  seeking  for. 
They  knew  that,  if  the  doctrine  purified  and  per- 
fected the  soul  of  one  man,  it  would  be  irresistible. 
It  would  extend  its  influence  to  other  souls,  because 
it  would  show,  beyond  all  possibility  of  doubting, 
that  it  could  bring  the  life  of  God  into  human  living 
—  and  a  doctrine  that  can  do  this  must  be  true. 
If  the  man  who  had  stolen  all  his  life  could  be 
brought  to  cease  from  stealing;  — if — though  at  a 
wide    remove  from   this    man  —  the  one   who   had 

179 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

never  been  tender-hearted  could  be  made  kind  and 
forgiving,  Paul  knew  that  his  work  and  mission 
would  be  accomplished.  It  is  so  everywhere  and 
in  all  ages.  The  mightiest  influence  of  Christianity 
in  the  city  or  town  where  you  reside,  my  friend,  or  in 
the  one  where  I  am  hving,  is  not  to  be  found  in  any 
benevolent  organisation,  or  mission  work,  or  even 
in  any  pastor's  ministrations  and  efforts  more  truly 
than  it  is  in  the  simple  daily  Hfe  of  some  individual 
man,  prominent  before  the  entire  community,  who 
is,  in  the  expressive  language  of  the  Scriptures, 
known  and  read  of  all  men  as  a  true  Christian  — 
a  man  whose  faith  works  by  love,  and  purifies  the 
heart  —  a  man  who  in  every  recess  and  corner  and 
secret  place  of  all  his  being  lives  the  life  which  he 
professes. 

The  words  of  the  Apostle  may  seem  to  the  reader 
whose  eye  and  thought  pass  quickly  over  them,  or 
by  whom  the  depth  below  the  surface  is  not  seen,  to 
move  only  in  the  outward  sphere  —  the  sphere  of 
action.  Do  not  continue  to  do  what  you  have  been 
doing.  The  man  that  stole  is  exhorted  to  steal  no 
more.  It  is  all  external.  But  when  the  mind  pene- 
trates below  the  surface,  and  gets  the  vision  of  the 
origin  and  movement  and  vital  power  and  new-creat- 
ing results  of  the  forces  which  were  in  the  Apostle's 
thought  when  he  used  the  words,  it  grasps  the  sig- 
nificance of  what  is  said,  and  knows  that  the  depths 
are  in  the  internal.  The  man  who  has  sinned  gives 
up  the  old  sinning  and  puts  the  opposite  virtue  in 
its  place,  because  there  is  a  new  manhood  in  him; 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

and,  as  he  docs  the  one  thing  and  the  other,  a  force 
goes  into  the  new  manhood  which  makes  it  grow  in 
strength  and  beauty.  The  inward  and  the  outward 
move  together.  But  the  movement  begins  with  the 
inward  and  ends  also  with  the  inward ;  and  so  the 
thoughts  which  the  PauHne  words  that  we  have  been 
considering  bring  to  us  are  thoughts  of  and  for  the 
inner  life. 


i8i 


XIII 

LOVE   IS  THE  FULFILLING  OF   THE    LAW 

He  that  loveth  his  neighbour  hath  fulfilled  the  law.  For  this. 
Thou  shalt  not  commit  adultery,  Thou  shall  not  kill,  TJiou 
shall  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not  bear  false  witness.  Thou  shall 
not  covet,  and  if  there  be  any  other  commafidmettt,  it  is 
summed  up  in  this  word,  namely,  Thou  shalt  lo7'e  thy  neigh- 
bour as  thyself.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neighbour  :  love 
therefore  is  the  fulfibnent  of  the  law.  —  Romans  xiii.  8-10. 

THE  reader  of  this  passage,  when  he  views  it  in 
the  Hght  of  the  suggestions  which  it  offers  with 
respect  to  the  Christian  teaching  and  life,  cannot  fail 
to  be  impressed  by  the  contrast  presented  in  the  two 
expressions  which  give  it  much  of  its  characteristic 
force  and  emphasis  —  the  contrast  between  TJioii 
shall  not,  and  Thojt  shall.  This  contrast,  in  one 
view  of  the  matter,  may  be  regarded  as  a  contrast 
between  the  Old  Testament  system  and  the  New. 
The  Old  Testament  system  dealt  very  largely  with 
prohibitions  as  connected  with  special  wrongs  and 
sins.  The  several  commands  which  are  here  cited 
from  the  great  and  central  law  itself  are  of  this  char- 
acter. They  together  make  up  the  entire  second 
portion  of  that  law,  which  relates  to  our  duties  to 
our  fellow-men.     We  are  not  to  kill  or  to  steal,  not 

182 


THE   INNER   LIEE 

to  bear  false  witness  or  to  covet  —  that  is,  the 
thought  is  fixed  upon  one  or  another  of  the  things 
which  men,  and  particularly  the  men  to  whom  the 
words  were  originally  addressed,  are  or  were  dis- 
posed to  do  or  to  feel,  and  each  one  in  its  turn  is 
forbidden.  It  sometimes  seems  strange  to  us,  as 
we  hear  the  words  read  as  the  Divine  law  still  bind- 
ing, that  nothing  further  or  more  comprehensive 
should  have  been  added.  Can  it  be,  we  say,  that 
there  is  no  more  than  this  in  the  setting  forth  of 
human  duty  as  connected  with  those  about  us? 
And  so,  at  times,  it  happens  that  the  attempt  is 
made  to  find  in  these  individual  prohibitions  a  wider 
significance  than  the  words  contain,  as  if  all  that  we 
can  see  in  the  sphere  of  obligation  were  intended  to 
be  conveyed  in  words  which,  of  themselves,  have  so 
much  of  limitation.  But  this  mode  of  dealing  with 
the  commands  is  one  which  loses  sight  of  what  they 
really  are.  They  prohibit  special  sins  and  evils, 
and  have  reference  to  these. 

The  same  thing  is  true,  very  largely,  of  the  law, 
in  its  more  detailed  presentation,  as  belonging  to 
the  older  revelation  of  it.  Thou  shalt  not,  as  we 
may  say,  was  the  characteristic  form  of  its  expres- 
sion. It  was  so,  because  of  the  stage  of  develop- 
ment of  those  to  whom  the  teaching  came.  In  the 
great  progress  of  the  Divine  plan  of  education  for 
the  race,  the  men  of  those  ages  represented  the 
period  of  childhood.  They  were  to  be  led  to  right 
moral  ideas  and  right  moral  action,  as  all  who  are 
at  the  beginning  must  be,  in  largest  measure  by 
knowing  what  they  should  not  do.     The  proJiibition 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

of  wrong  was,  by  the  necessity  of  the  age,  the  chief 
means  of  communicating  the  thought  of  right,  and 
bringing  men  to  it.  The  early  moral  systems  of 
teaching  answered,  in  this  regard,  to  the  Divine 
system.  They  did  so,  because  there  was  not  readi- 
ness as  yet  for  what  was  of  another  order,  or  what 
moved  from  another  starting-point.  The  result  was, 
that  character  did  not  reach  its  highest  point.  It 
never  does  when  the  limitations  of  the  age  necessi- 
tate the  limitations  of  the  teaching,  after  this  manner 
—  and  we  are  not  to  find  fault  with  the  men,  or  the 
system,  because  of  what  could  not  be  expected  at  the 
time.  It  is  those  to  whom  much  is  given,  of  whom 
much  will  be  required.  The  child's  development  is 
not  the  man's,  and  the  method  of  leading  the  child 
in  his  moral  life  may  fitly  be  different  from  that  by 
which  the  man  is  led. 

But  the  latter  method  is  higher  than  the  former, 
even  as  the  man's  development  is  higher.  The 
positive  system  is  more  and  greater  than  the  nega- 
tive. Thou  shalt  reaches  beyond  TJiou  shalt  not. 
And  here  we  come  to  the  first  characteristic  of  the 
Christian  teaching.  It  is  not.  Thou  shalt  not  kill, 
or  steal,  or  bear  false  witness,  but.  Thou  shalt  love. 
We  may  look  through  the  New  Testament,  and  we 
shall  find  it  everywhere  the  same.  There  are,  in- 
deed, prohibitions  in  many  places  within  the  range 
of  its  different  books  —  and  prohibitions  which 
relate  to  particular  and  special  evils.  But  no  stu- 
dent of  these  writings,  who  observes  what  they  set 
before  him  and  grasps  their  controlling  thought, 
can  be  without  the  impression  that  it  is  the  positive 

1S4 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

side  of  moral  teaching,  which  is  altogether  prom- 
inent and  everywhere  the  same.  Whether  it  be 
Jesus  himself  who  speaks,  or  Paul,  or  John,  the 
negative  sinks  into  comparative  insignificance.  The 
great  active  force  is  demanded,  and  is  called  into 
being  by  the  demand.  As  it  comes  forward  into 
activity,  it  accomplishes  the  result.  The  single 
prohibitions  fall  into  the  line  of  its  working  and  lose 
themselves  in  its  living  and  transforming  energy. 
In  this  very  passage,  how  clear  and  plain  it  is : 
Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself.  He  that 
loveth  his  neighbour  hath,  in  that  very  act  and  fact, 
fulfilled  the  law.  All  that  is  forbidden  is  included 
in  this  one  positive  command.  And  after  the 
same  manner  in  the  comprehensive  exhortation  for 
Christian  life,  which  opens  and  covers  the  entire 
practical  section  of  the  epistle  from  which  the  pas- 
sage is  taken,  we  have  the  words :  Present  your 
bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy,  acceptable  to  God ; 
and  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing  of  your  mind. 
If  this  exhortation  is  fulfilled,  the  opposite  negative. 
Be  not  conformed  to  this  world,  as  well  as  every  sug- 
gestion which  is  subordinate  to  it,  is  also  fulfilled. 
The  power  of  the  Christian  teaching,  in  one  aspect 
of  it,  is  in  its  seizing  thus  upon  the  positive  element 
in  the  moral  and  spiritual  sphere  and  pressing  this 
upon  the  soul  as  the  force  for  character  and  for 
true  life.  Herein  also  is  its  adaptation  for  the 
moral  development  of  manhood,  as  contrasted  with 
childhood.  It  is  the  positive  force  which  makes 
the  man.  The  command  to  do  the  right  appeals 
to  the  manly  energies  and  sets  them  in  motion.     It 

185 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

has  life  in  itself  in  a  degree  and  measure  of  which 
the  prohibition  knows  nothing. 

In  the  second  place,  the  reader  who  carefully 
observes  the  passage  in  its  negative  and  positive 
parts  will  notice  that,  while  the  prohibitions  are  of 
the  nature  of  rules  of  living  in  special  lines,  the 
positive  command  takes  hold  of  a  great  principle. 
Love  is  the  controlling  power  of  the  soul.  When 
once  implanted  within  the  soul,  it  applies  its  force 
wherever  it  needs  to  be  applied.  This  is  strikingly 
manifest  in  the  matters  of  which  the  writer  is  speak- 
ing in  these  verses.  They  refer  to  specific  wrongs 
inflicted  by  one  man  upon  another.  How  shall 
they  be  prevented  and  the  tendency  towards  them 
be  overcome?  Not  by  forbidding  them,  one  after 
another,  as  if  this  were  the  main  thing  to  be  done, 
says  the  New  Testament  teaching,  but  by  bringing 
a  principle  of  life  to  bear  upon  all  action  and  feel- 
ing as  between  man  and  man.  The  law  in  its 
relation  to  one's  fellow  man  is  fulfilled  by  love,  for 
the  simple  and  sufficient  reason  that  love  does  no  ill 
to  the  fellow  man.  Love  must,  for  this  reason, 
cover  and  include  within  itself  every  prohibition  of 
the  doing  of  particular  evil.  It  does  no  ill,  because 
it  pervades  life  and  character  everywhere.  It  ac- 
complishes its  end  also,  because  as  a  positive  force 
it  excludes  the  desire  to  do  evil  —  overcoming,  at 
the  very  centre  of  character,  the  source  of  evil 
action  by  establishing  itself  as  the  source  of  good. 

It  is  interesting  to  observe  —  and  this  is  of  the 
very  essence    of  the    Gospel  —  how   Jesus,  in    His 

i86 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

teaching,  everywhere  turns  the  thought  of  His 
hearers  from  the  outward  act  to  the  inward  thought 
and  feehng.  The  sin  itself,  He  says,  in  referring  to 
these  very  commands  of  the  law  which  Paul  here 
cites,  is  not  to  be  discovered  in  the  mere  action, 
but  rather  behind  and  beneath  it.  It  lies  in  the 
thought  or  desire  of  the  soul  which  prompts  the 
act.  If  this  desire  and  thought  be  made  right,  all 
danger  of  the  committing  of  the  act  is  at  once 
removed.  Put  love  at  the  centre,  and  the  work  is 
complete.  After  a  similar  manner.  He  declares  to 
the  scribe  who  asked  Him,  as  if  there  were  higher 
and  lower  commands  in  the  law,  which  command- 
ment was  first,  that  love  is  the  first  and  all-inclusive 
thing  enjoined  by  God.  So  also,  He  calls  upon 
His  most  immediate  and  intimate  disciples,  along 
their  course  of  life  with  Him  and  especially  at  the 
end,  to  let  love  abide  in  their  hearts,  and  bids  them, 
for  the  future,  in  their  separation  from  Him,  to  love 
one  another. 

It  is  remarkable  also  how  Jesus  —  even  as  Paul 
does  here  —  when  He  was  dealing  with  those  to 
whom  the  Old  Testament  law  was  familiar,  seized 
upon  those  thoughts  and  sentences  of  the  Old 
Testament  in  which  the  deepest  or  widest  meaning, 
as  yet  not  fully  apprehended,  lay,  and  threw  the 
light  of  great  principles  upon  them.  Thou  shalt 
love  thy  neighbour  as  thyself —  which  had  been 
limited  in  its  application,  and  only  half  understood 
in  its  life-power  —  became,  as  Jesus  used  the  words, 
and  as  Paul  used  them  in  imitation  of  Him,  the 
summation   of  all   that   God   would  ask  of  men  in 

187 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

their  relations  to  each  other.  Love  avoids  all  evil 
and  urges  to  all  good,  and  thus  there  can  be  noth- 
ing greater  in  the  commandments  than  this,  and 
nothing  that  reaches  beyond  this. 

The  same  thing  is  evident  in  the  other  great 
matter  of  the  law  —  the  relation  of  man  to  God 
Himself.  The  various  duties  and  services,  which 
the  Jewish  system  asked  for  in  its  training  of  the 
people  for  what  was  far  off  in  the  future  time,  were 
only  manifestations  of  the  loving  spirit,  or  means  of 
bringing  the  mind  and  heart  into  nearness  to  God. 
When  they  sank  into  outward  and  formal  service,  or 
lost  their  deepest  significance  as  duties  by  becom- 
ing spiritless  and  perfunctory,  the  educating  force, 
and  the  very  life  itself,  passed  out  of  them.  So  far 
as  they  were  counted  as  so  much  doing  attended  by 
so  much  result,  and  the  saving  of  the  soul  became  a 
mere  reward  of  outward  action,  the  divine  element 
in  the  system  gave  place  to  the  human,  and  the 
true  righteousness  was  unknown.  So  plain  is  it 
that  the  real  vitality  and  living  power  of  the  older 
system  were  wholly  in  the  central  force  of  love. 

But  it  was  Jesus  who  made  this  central  force 
known  in  all  its  significance.  By  His  teaching  the 
first  part  of  the  law  was  filled  with  love,  even  as 
was  the  second  part;  and,  in  the  words,  Thou  shalt 
love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  was  found 
the  summation  of  all  the  prohibitions  of  the  law  — 
to  worship  no  other  gods,  to  make  no  graven  image, 
not  to  take  the  Divine  name  in  vain ;  and  not  only 
this,  but  of  all  positive  duty  and  all  holy  feeling 
towards    the   Divine  Father.      The   answer  to   the 

188 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

scribe,  which  involved  the  statement  of  love  to  God 
and  man,  contained  in  itself  the  substance  of  the 
Christian  teaching.  There  is,  there  can  be,  no 
other  commandment  greater  than  these. 

Thus  —  as  in  the  former  case,  where  Thou  sJialt 
not  precedes,  and  at  length  gives  way  to,  Thoit  shalt 
—  the  Divine  movement  here  again  is  in  the  line  of 
education.  The  rules  are  for  the  early  time,  as 
they  are,  ever  and  everywhere,  for  childhood.  The 
principles  which  include  and  pervade  the  rules,  and 
which  become  the  living  force  for  character,  are 
made  known,  and  brought  to  bear  upon  the  soul  in 
their  true  influence,  when  the  early  time  gives  way 
to  the  later  and  childhood  passes  into  manhood. 
We  are  not  therefore  — if  we  would  be  right-minded 
in  our  thinking  —  to  find  fault  with  or  misjudge  the 
earlier  system,  or  the  men  who  lived  under  it,  as  if 
God  could  not  have  been  dealing  with  them  to  the 
end  of  righteousness,  or  leading  them,  according  to 
the  possibilities  of  the  age  indeed,  yet  really,  to  the 
attainment  of  it.  But  above  all,  we  are  not  to  misap- 
prehend the  significance  and  privilege  and  power  of 
that  system  and  teaching  under  which  we  ourselves 
live.  The  Christian  doctrine  has  its  meaning  in  a 
life-principle,  and  its  power  is  found  where  its 
meaning  is. 

The  careful  reader,  who  considers  these  verses, 
will  also  see  in  them  the  suggestion  that  the  life- 
principle,  according  to  the  Christian  teaching,  is 
expected  to  work  in  the  life  in  a  reasonable  and 
natural  way.     As  thyself  is  set,  in  the  command,  as 

189 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

the  measure  of  the  love  to  a  fellow-man.  And  this 
expression  is  defined  and  limited,  as  it  were,  by  the 
following  words.  Love  worketh  no  ill  to  his  neigh- 
bour; therefore  love  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  law. 
The  man  who  comes  under  the  true  influence  of  the 
teaching  is  so  far  io  love,  as  to  do  no  evil ;  to  refrain 
from  all  such  injury  to  his  fellow-man  as  is  indicated 
in  the  prohibitions  of  the  ancient  law,  and  from  all 
evil  of  a  minor  character  which  is  suggested  by  them, 
even  as  he  would  refrain  from  injury  to  himself.  He 
is,  as  he  turns  to  the  positive  side  of  the  matter,  to  do 
his  neighbour  good  as  readily  and  earnestly  as  he 
would  do  himself  good.  The  impulses  of  his  heart, 
that  is,  as  impelling  to  action,  are  not  to  centre  in  or 
upon  himself  and  his  own  well-being,  but  are  to 
move  outward  towards  the  welfare  of  others. 

But  he  is  not  called  upon  in  every  sense,  and  every 
outlook  of  his  life,  to  do  for  them  what  he  does  for 
himself  The  life  of  each  man  is  entrusted  in  a 
peculiar  manner  to  his  own  keeping,  and  there  must 
be  an  interest  in  and  devotion  to  it,  which  cannot  be 
given  to  any  or  every  other  life.  When  Jesus  said 
to  His  own  disciples  that  they  should  love  one 
another  as  He  had  loved  them,  He  did  not  mean 
that  they  should  love  every  disciple  with  an  equal 
love,  or  that  the  love,  in  any  case,  should  absolutely 
equal  His  own.  This  could  not  have  been  His 
demand,  for  His  power  of  loving  was  greater  than 
theirs.  He  meant  that,  in  every  case,  they  should 
love  according  to  the  possibilities  of  their  nature 
and  condition,  even  as  He  had  done.  He  had  loved 
them  all   alike,   in   that   He  had   lived  to    do    them 

190 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

good.  He  called  upon  them  to  love  one  another 
after  the  same  manner.  The  meaning  of  the  law,  as 
interpreted  by  His  teaching,  is  readiness  ever  to  do 
good  and  unwillingness  ever  to  do  evil.  It  is,  in  a 
single  word,  love  which  thus  moves  the  man  always 
in  his  relation  to  his  fellow-man. 

This  love  —  which  duly  regards  the  personal  life, 
but  continually  reaches  out  to  other  lives  —  lifts  the 
soul  in  love  to  Him  who  is  higher  than  all.  The 
brotherhood  of  men  opens  towards  the  fatherhood 
of  God.  And  so,  as  the  command  which  enjoins 
the  spirit  of  the  brotherhood  carries  on  the  man  to 
the  fulfilment  of  that  greater  command,  which  calls 
for  all-controlling  love  towards  the  Divine  Father, 
the  end  of  all  true  living  is  secured.  The  life-prin- 
ciple is  one,  only  with  different  outworkings.  It 
pervades  the  soul,  and  inspires  its  movements 
whithersoever  it  turns  in  all  its  relations,  and  thus 
becomes  for  each  and  every  man  the  complete  ful- 
filment of  the  law  in  both  of  its  parts.  The  enmity 
to  God  and  man  alike  is  done  away  in  every  mani- 
festation of  it,  and  it  passes  into  an  affection  which, 
as  related  to  the  one,  is  more  than  the  love  to  one's 
self — supreme  and  above  all  things; — and,  as  re- 
lated to  the  other,  is  equal  to  the  love  to  self — ever 
moving  outward,  as  readily  as  it  turns  inward.  The 
working,  everywhere,  is  in  accordance  with  the 
natural  movement  of  the  life. 

In  view  of  the  thoughts  which  have  thus  been  pre- 
sented, let  us  not  misunderstand  what  the  Christian 
system  is.     We  are  all   prone  to  put  ourselves  on 

191 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

the  standpoint  of  the  older  teaching.  As  we  are 
called  to  the  new  life,  or  as  we  go  forward  in  it,  the 
rules  and  prohibitions  assume  the  place  of  promi- 
nence in  our  thinking.  We  stand  just  outside  the 
gate  of  Christian  living,  and,  as  we  look  inward 
upon  the  path  along  which  we  are  asked  to  move, 
we  seem  to  see  everywhere  placed  before  us  the 
words.  Thou  shalt  not.  These  words  appear  to  attach 
themselves  to  actions,  and  pleasures,  and  purposes 
for  our  own  well-being,  and  plans  and  hopes  for  the 
earthly  career.  The  doctrine,  we  say  to  ourselves, 
is  a  forbidding  one.  It  denies  us  almost  everything 
on  which  we  have  fixed  our  thoughts  and  desires. 
It  penetrates  everywhere,  and  makes  life  a  hard  ser- 
vice. It  may  perhaps  be  fitted  for  the  later  years, 
when  the  joy  of  youth  and  manhood  come  to  their 
end,  and  preparation  must  be  made  for  what  lies 
beyond  the  boundary  of  this  world.  But  we  cannot 
listen  to  the  call  now,  when  life  is  too  happy  in  its 
possibilities  and  enjoyments  for  the  suffering  of  pro- 
hibition on  every  side.  And  so  we  turn  back  from 
the  gate  as  it  opens  for  us  and  refuse  to  obey  the 
summons. 

But  all  this  is  misapprehension.  Christianity  is 
not  a  negative  moral  system,  or  one  that  is  made 
up  of  rules  or  prohibitions  only  which  attend  the  man 
at  every  step.  Its  teaching  is  positive.  The  spring 
and  power  of  life,  which  it  gives,  is  a  principle. 
You  are  invited,  my  friend,  to  take  the  love-principle 
into  your  soul,  and  let  it  work  there.  To  move  you 
to  accept  the  invitation  —  the  love  of  God  as  your 
Father,  dealing  tenderly  with  you,  watching   over 

192 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

you  always,  bestowing  upon  you  a  multitude  of 
blessings,  filling  the  years  for  you  as  they  pass  with 
more  and  more  of  good,  is  set  before  your  mind,  to 
the  end  that  you  may,  if  possible,  see  how  much 
greater  and  better  He  is  than  all  other  friends. 
To  impel  you  still  further,  the  relation  of  all  other 
men  —  like  the  relation  of  yourself — to  Him  as 
Father  is  made  known,  and  you  are  awakened,  if 
you  can  be,  to  the  grand,  inspiring  thought  of  the 
great  brotherhood,  with  common  needs,  and  hopes, 
and  life.  And,  as  uniting  in  Himself  the  Divine  and 
human,  Jesus  appears  before  you,  according  to  the 
Christian  teaching,  with  His  divine  example  and 
His  Jiuman  affection^  and  asks  you  to  become  like 
Him  in  your  soul's  living.  The  principle  is  im- 
planted within  you,  if  you  will  receive  it,  and  you 
are  left  to  its  working.  Life  now  begins  from  a 
new  point  —  from  the  opposite  point,  as  contrasted 
with  what  you  were  thinking  of,  —  and  it  develops 
in  the  happiest  and  most  natural  way. 

What  is  the  working?  It  is  the  same  with  that 
of  the  love-principle  everywhere.  It  excludes  the 
wrong  things  and  the  evil  desires,  not  by  turning 
the  mind  to  the  prohibitory  command  relating  to 
each  sinful  act  or  course  of  action,  but  by  so  filling 
the  mind  with  itself  that  the  wish  to  do  ill  passes 
away.  It  is  wonderful  how  the  Christian  teaching, 
with  a  sublime  confidence,  leaves  the  love-principle, 
as  it  enters  the  disciple's  soul,  to  itself —  assured 
that  it  will  accomplish  its  work.  It  has  no  doubts 
or  fears,  for  it  knows  the  transforming  power  which 
the  living  principle  has  within  it.  Its  outlook  is  ever 
13  193 


TIIOUGIirS   OF  AND  FOR 

forward,  and  it  sees  the  results  in  the  future.  And 
well  it  may  have  this  confidence,  for  the  love-force 
is  the  positive  all-creating  and  all-subduing  life- 
force.  You  are  asked  to  begin  the  Christian  life  just 
as  you  would  begin  any  other  life  where  the  love- 
force  is  the  governing  principle.  The  positive  ele- 
ment of  the  life  takes  care  of  all  on  the  negative 
side;  and,  just  as  far  and  as  fast  as  the  character 
grows,  the  hardness  of  giving  up  what  is  forbidden 
ceases,  and  the  development  becomes  continuous 
and  joyous.  Look  at  the  growth  of  love  anywhere, 
and  you  will  see  that  it  carries  all  this  in  itself. 

The  Christian  life  has  great  promises,  my  friends. 
Whatever  else  we  may  do  respecting  it,  let  us  not 
turn  aside  from  its  call,  and  lose  its  gifts,  through 
a  misapprehension  of  what  it  asks  of  us,  and  of  what 
it  offers  to  us  as  its  moving  power. 

But  our  misunderstanding  is  not  only  at  the 
beginning  and  while  we  are  yet  outside  of  the  gate- 
way. We  linger  often  under  the  influence  of  the 
old  ideas,  after  we  have  been  long  moving  on  in 
the  new  way  of  living.  We  think  of  the  Christian 
system  still  as  one  of  rules  and  prohibitions,  and 
concentrate  our  thought  upon  these.  TJioti  sJialtnot 
continues  to  be  the  great  word  of  command.  As 
the  result  of  this  we  become  severe  in  our  judgment 
of  others  and,  oftentimes,  of  ourselves,  also.  The 
prohibitions  of  the  law  are  studied,  perhaps,  in  all 
their  minuteness  as  they  may  be  made  to  bear  upon 
present  action,  or  they  are  extended  to  a  sphere 
of  conduct  which  they  were  not  intended  to  cover.. 
If  another  violates  them  in  any  measure,  as   they 

194 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

are  thus  extended  and  applied,  we  declare  him  to 
be  losing  sight  of  duty  or  wandering  off  from  the 
Christian  path.  If  we  find  ourselves  failing  at  times, 
even  in  matters  the  wrong  of  which  is  questionable, 
we  become  anxious  for  our  own  well-being.  We 
move  downward  or  backward  from  the  Christian 
idea  to  the  idea  of  the  old  system  as  the  Jews  of 
the  time  of  Jesus  understood  it  —  losing  sight  of 
its  truest  and   deepest  significance. 

The  revelation  of  the  Gospel  was  other  than  this. 
It  was  the  revelation  of  the  love-principle  as  the  x 
transforming  life-power.  It  was  the  revelation,  in 
all  clearness,  of  what  had  not  been  apprehended 
before  —  the  revelation  of  God  as  the  Father  of  the 
great  brotherhood  of  men,  and  of  love  as  the  unit- 
ing force  binding  the  membership  of  the  brother- 
hood to  one  another  and  all  alike  to  God.  If  the 
love  which  answers  the  demands  of  the  relationship 
in  which  the  man  stands  dwells  in  his  heart,  he  can 
be  trusted  in  his  action.  The  love  itself  fulfils  the 
law.  Whatever  he  may  do  while  love  is  trium- 
phant within  him,  and  while  there  is  in  the  act,  or 
the  feeling  which  prompts  it,  no  inconsistency  with 
love,  he  may  do  rightly.  If  love  be  thus  all-con- 
trolling, all  questions  will  settle  themselves,  and  the 
man  may  be  where  he  will  with  the  true  life  still 
abiding  in  all  its  strength.  The  system  of  rules, 
and  of  these  only,  has  passed  for  him  into  a  system 
of  principle,  and  he  is  free  with  the  freedom  that 
is  given  by  Christ. 

And  here  is  the  educating  power  for  manhood. 
It  is  easier,  in  one  sense,    to  be  in   the  childhood 

195 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

state,  and  to  have  rules  set  for  us  at  every  step,  so 
that  we  know  just  what  we  may,  and  may  not,  do. 
Life  needs  comparatively  little  thought  or  decision 
or  resolution,  when  it  is  adjusted  thus.  But  man- 
hood is  not  appointed  to  be  without  thought,  and 
decision,  and  resolution.  These  are  essential  ele- 
ments pertaining  to  it,  as  distinguished  from  child- 
hood.   The  man  is  designed  for  principles,  not  rules 

—  to  take  them  as  the  governing  force  of  life  —  to 
apply  them  in  every  critical  moment  of  thought  and 
action.  The  responsibility  of  decision  continually 
develops  the  manly  power. 

And  so  Christianity  works  upon  us,  and  in  us,  by 
imposing  upon  our  lives  this  responsibility.  It  deals 
with  us  and  treats  us,  thus,  in  the  manliest  way.  It 
tells  us,  at  its  first  meeting  with  our  souls,  of  what 
we  know  in  some  measure  from  our  own  experience 

—  that  love  is  the  great  working  force  for  character. 
It  reveals  to  us  —  what  is  beyond  our  limited  human 
knowledge,  but  what  we  might  hope  to  be  true  from 
what  we  see  of  the  human  soul  —  that  the  same 
force  is  that  which  brings  us  into  nearest  relation  to 
God  and  transforms  us  into  His  likeness.  It  points 
us  to  God  Himself,  as  having  the  same  life-force  in 
His  own  Divine  life,  and  as  ever  sending  forth  His 
love  to  those  who  love  Him.  It  thus  offers  to  us 
its  great  gift  and  bids  us  take  it,  with  its  word  of 
command.  Thou  shalt  love  God  supremely,  and  thy 
fellow-man  as  thyself.  And  then,  when  we  accept 
its  offer  and  yield  to  its  bidding,  it  tells  us  to  go  on 
our  way  rejoicing.  Love,  it  assures  us,  will  answer 
all    questions,  prompt   all    actions,   control  all  life, 

196 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

reject  all  evil,  take  to  itself  all  good.  Let  it  always 
abide  in  the  soul  and  do  its  own  work.  This  is 
what  it  says  —  and  along  the  way,  and  at  the  end, 
it  brings  its  peaceful  message  to  the  soul  in  the 
words,  Love  is  the  fulfilment  of  the  law. 

I  commend  to  you,  once  more,  my  young  friends, 
the  Christian  message  and  the  Christian  teaching. 
If  you  will  receive  into  your  souls  the  great  life- 
principle  which  is  presented  to  you  for  your  accep- 
tance, it  will  become  for  you  an  ever-working  power 
—  whose  working  will  overcome  evil  as  the  days 
and  years  pass.  It  will  continually  develop  largest 
and  grandest  manhood,  and  will  bring  beautiful  and 
peaceful  life  for  all  the  future.  The  gift  which 
Christianity  offers  is  a  great  one.  It  will  become 
greater  to  your  thought,  the  more  you  know  of  it  in 
your  own  personal  experience.  Let  your  mind  rest 
upon  it,  and  upon  all  that  it  bears  with  itself. 


197 


XIV 

LIKENESS  TO  CHRIST  THE  BEGINNING 
AND   END   OF   OUR  SONSHIP  TO  GOD 

Beloved^  jwiu  are  we  childj-ett  of  God,  and  it  is  not  yet  made 
nianifest  what  we  shall  be.  We  know  that  if  he  shall 
be  fnanifested,  we  shall  be  like  himj  for  we  shall  see  him 
even  as  he  is. —  i  John  iii.  2. 

^T~^HE  writer  of  these  words,  at  the  time  of  his 
■*-  writing  them,  had  had  a  very  peculiar  exper- 
ience as  related  to  the  Christian  truth  and  life.  He 
had  been  summoned  very  soon  after  the  beginning 
of  the  ministry  of  Jesus  to  the  office  and  work  of  the 
Apostleship  and  had,  accordingly,  had  the  most 
abundant  opportunities  to  learn  from  Jesus  what  He 
had  to  teach  on  every  subject  connected  with  His 
mission  to  the  world  and  with  the  Divine  revelation. 
With  a  mind  wonderfully  adapted  to  receive  the 
truth  and  ever  ready  to  penetrate  as  far  as  possible 
into  its  deepest  meaning,  he  must,  as  we  cannot 
doubt,  have  sought  by  questioning,  by  continued  re- 
flection, by  careful  study  of  the  working  of  the  truth 
in  his  own  mind  and  heart,  and  in  the  minds  and 
hearts  of  his  fellow  disciples,  and  by  every  means 
within  his  power,  to  enter  into  the  full  possession  of 
what  he  had  heard  from  the  lips  of  his  Master.  A 
long  period  had  now  passed  since  the  Master's  death, 

198 


THE  IiYNER  LIFE 

and,  with  the  progress  of  these  years,  the  more  out- 
ward communion,  as  it  might  be  called,  had  changed 
into  the  more  inward  one.  But  he  had  meditated 
upon  the  truth,  and  in  his  soul  had  drawn  near  to 
the  source  of  truth,  and  had  dwelt  in  thought  upon 
the  development  of  his  own  interior  life,  and  had 
looked  intently  backward  to  the  old  experience,  now 
become  the  richest  of  all  memories,  and  forward  to 
the  great  mysterious  future  ever  drawing  nearer  to 
himself.  He  was,  at  the  date  of  his  writing,  almost 
at  the  end  of  life  here,  and  almost  at  the  beginning 
of  life  hereafter  —  when  the  hopes  and  dreams  of 
what  is  beyond  most  fill  the  soul. 

It  cannot  but  be  a  matter  of  interest  to  think  of 
these  words  of  the  epistle  as  revealing  what  one  who 
had  been  so  intimately  related  to  Jesus,  and  who  Avas 
so  near  to  the  promised  reunion  with  Him,  had 
learned  of  the  future  life  in  its  connection  with  the 
present,  and  what  he  had  not  learned. 

Of  the  special  experiences  of  the  future  life  he 
had  learned  nothing.  Two  things  in  the  teaching  of 
Jesus,  and  His  intercourse  with  the  Apostles,  impress 
us  as  very  remarkable,  I  think,  when  we  study  the 
Gospel  history  in  relation  to  this  matter.  The  first 
is,  that,  although  His  teaching  was  continually  of 
the  things  belonging  to  the  soul's  life,  and  thus 
moved  oftentimes,  as  if  by  necessity,  on  the  borders 
of  the  hereafter,  He  seems  never  to  have  lifted  the 
veil  for  a  moment,  or  given  the  Apostles  even  a 
passing  vision  of  the  things  which  lay  behind  it. 
He    told    them   nothing    which    could    be   wrought 

199 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

by  their  subsequent  reflection  into  the  semblance  of 
knowledge.  The  other  thing  is,  if  possible,  more 
strange  and  striking,  to  my  own  mind,  than  this. 
It  is,  that  they  did  not  press  Him  with  questions  on 
this  matter,  and  try  to  gain  from  Him  thereby  some- 
thing which  might  satisfy  the  eager  inquiries  and 
strong  desires  of  their  own  minds.  There  must 
have  been,  as  it  would  seem,  some  mysterious  influ- 
ence in  His  presence  and  character,  and  some  won- 
derful concentration  of  His  words,  in  all  His 
intercourse  with  them,  upon  duty  and  service  and 
the  inner  life,  which  awed  them  into  a  silence  almost 
hke  His  own  with  reference  to  the  unseen  world.  A 
similar  silence,  if  we  may  so  express  it,  seems  to 
have  continued  with  them  and  stilled  their  question- 
ings, after  they  were  left  to  their  own  thoughts,  and 
when  the  revelations  of  the  Spirit  came  to  them,  to 
lead  them  into  the  truth. 

How  often,  and  with  how  much  interest,  a  mind 
like  that  of  the  writer  of  this  epistle,  it  would  seem, 
must  have  dwelt  upon  the  circumstances  and  condi- 
tions under  which  his  own  character  might  grow  into 
a  higher  than  earthly  completeness  in  another  state  of 
existence.  So  we  should  say  to  ourselves,  before 
we  read  the  record  of  his  thoughts.  But  when  we 
read  it,  we  find  him  telling  us  no  more  of  these 
things  than  we,  who  never  saw  the  Lord  and  talked 
with  Him,  can  tell  one  another ;  and  even  the  ques- 
tions which  rise  so  often  in  our  minds  seem  to  have 
been  lost  for  him  in  the  peaceful  and  loving  confi- 
dence in  which  he  moved  forward  in  the  daily  service 
of  God.     We  arc  children  of  God,  he  says,  but  what 

200 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

we  shall  be  is  not  yet  made  manifest.  lie  says  this 
as  calmly  as  if  he  had  never  dreamed  of  the  possi- 
bility of  answering  the  question  respecting  the 
future ;  as  if  he  had  never  seen  a  messenger  from 
the  other  world  who  knew  everything  relating  to  the 
life  there ;  almost  as  if  the  details  of  that  life  had 
been  beyond  the  limits  of  his  thought. 

That  he  had  thought,  however,  of  the  life  beyond 
is  manifest  from  many  passages  in  his  writings,  and 
even  from  the  one  before  us.  It  is  manifest,  also, 
from  what  his  writings  reveal  to  us  of  himself.  A 
meditative,  self-contemplative  man,  such  as  he  was  — 
to  whom  the  growth  of  mind  and  character  is  the 
most  important  of  all  things  in  the  world,  and  who 
has  an  intense  interest  in  the  working  and  movement 
of  his  own  mind  and  character  —  cannot  make  the 
present  life  the  boundary  of  his  thinking.  As  he 
sees  the  wonderful  capabilities  of  his  soul,  and  the 
hindrances  and  imperfections  which  beset  it  here,  he 
must  go  out  in  his  hopes  and  imagination  to  a  more 
perfect  state,  in  which  the  growth  will  be  an  un- 
ending one.  And  so  it  doubtless  was  in  his  case ; 
and  he  came  to  deep  conviction,  and  even  to  as- 
surance, as  he  meditated.  Of  the  details  and  precise 
conditions  of  the  future  he  knew  nothing  indeed. 
He  was  content  to  wait  for  this  knowledge  until  all 
should  be  revealed.  But  that  a  better  and  higher 
life  was  before  him  he  was  well-assured,  and  what 
would  be  its  great  characteristic,  and  the  source  of 
its  blessedness,  he  knew  with  a  knowledge  that  was 
like  the  realisation  of  the  blessedness  in  his  own 
soul.     It  is  not  yet  made  manifest  what  we  shall  be  ; 

20I 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

but  we  know  that  when  He  shall  be  manifested,  we 
shall  be  like  Him. 

Let  us  look  somewhat  more  closely  at  what  this 
knowledge  was,  and  how  it  grew  within  him.  The 
foundation  of  the  thought  of  the  verses  seems  to 
be  in  the  expression :  children  of  God,  The  Johan- 
nean  idea  of  the  child-relationship  to  God  is  that 
of  likeness  to  Him  in  character.  As  the  human 
,  soul  comes  into  union  and  fellowship  with  God,  a 
new  principle  is  implanted  within  it,  which  corres- 
ponds with  that  by  which  the  Divine  life  itself  is 
guided.  The  entrance  of  this  principle  makes  the 
~^  man  God's  child.  This  entrance  is  secured  by  faith, 
which  is  the  basis  and  essential  element  of  spiritual 
union.  We  may  believe  that  the  Apostle  gained  this 
conception,  so  far  as  it  was  peculiar  to  himself,  from 
his  own  experience.  We  cannot  suppose  that, 
when  he  first  came  to  Jesus  and  gave  himself  up 
to  friendship  with  Him,  there  was  any  great  crisis 
or  violent  overturning  in  his  life,  as  there  was,  for 
example,  in  the  case  of  Paul.  His  nature  and  his 
earlier  life  were  of  a  different  sort.  He  was  a  man 
of  thoughtfulness,  far  more  exclusively  than  Paul 
was,  and  he  had  turned  already  with  willingness  to 
the  teachings  of  John  the  Baptist  and  had,  not  im- 
probably, been  from  the  beginning  a  follower  of 
the  light  so  far  as  it  had  come  to  him  from  the  Old 
Testament.  When  he  found  in  Jesus  the  promised 
messenger  from  heaven,  therefore,  he  simply  sat  at 
His  feet  and  learned  of  Him.  As  the  Divine  influ- 
ence passed  from  the  Master  to  the  disciple,  faith 

202 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

became  to  him  immediately  a  working  and  trans- 
forming principle.  It  was  the  power  of  a  new  life 
springing  up  in  his  soul.  Spiritually,  he  found 
himself  to  be  what  he  had  not  been  before.  His 
mind  and  heart  had  been  born  again.  The  life 
within  him  had  only  to  grow  from  this  beginning, 
in  order  to  become  perfect.  He  saw,  as  at  the  time 
of  his  writing  he  looked  backward  from  his  far- 
advanced  age,  that  it  had  been  growing  steadily, 
and  that  it  was  now  much  deeper  and  larger  and 
stronger  than  in  the  first  days ;  —  but  it  was  still 
the  same  thing,  and  it  had  not  yet  reached  its  high- 
est possibility.  We  cannot  wonder  that  it  seemed 
to  him  to  be  like  the  natural  life,  which  comes  into 
being  by  a  force  outside  of  itself,  and  then  only 
goes  on  and  develops,  under  all  the  influences  sur- 
rounding it  and  through  all  the  powers  within  it, 
until  it  reaches  the  fulness  of  its  growth.  He  was 
a  child  of  God  on  the  first  day  of  the  revelation  of 
Jesus  to  his  soul.  He  was  a  child  of  God  still, 
though  half  a  century  had  passed  away,  and  what  he 
had  gained  seemed  almost  too  great  to  be  measured. 
The  change  which  had  taken  place  was  only  the  natu- 
ral progress  of  a  life  in  its  appropriate  conditions. 

The  influence  also,  which  had  been  most  power- 
ful in  causing  the  growth,  and  had  been  working 
constantly  through  all  the  years,  was  the  same  that 
had  originated  the  life  within  him.  As  he  saw 
Jesus,  and  heard  Him  speak  of  Himself  and  of  the 
truth,  he  believed,  and  thus  entered  into  fellowship 
with  God.  The  inner  life  of  Jesus  infused  itself 
into  his  own  inner  life,  as  he  communed  with  Him 

20-; 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

in  the  daily  intercourse  of  the  time  that  followed, 
even  to  the  day  of  the  crucifixion.  How  evident  it 
is,  that  in  his  association  with  Jesus  there  was  real- 
ised a  union  in  which  the  character  of  the  one 
absorbed  into  itself,  in  a  wonderful  degree,  the 
character  of  the  other,  and  the  two  persons  became 
one,  as  we  say,  not  only  because  they  were  closely 
joined  together  in  affection,  but  especially  because 
there  was  a  common  life-principle  filling  their  souls; 
a  life-principle  given  forth  by  the  one  and  received 
as  the  source  of  life  by  the  other.  And,  after  their 
separation  by  reason  of  the  death  of  Jesus,  the 
Apostle  grew  in  his  soul's  living  by  the  remem- 
brance and  study  of  what  Jesus  was. 

No  reader  of  his  Gospel  and  first  Epistle  can 
question  this.  Indeed,  so  manifest  are  the  evi- 
dences which  establish  the  fact,  that  some,  who 
have  not  appreciated  the  striking  proofs  of  historic 
truthfulness  in  his  narrative  in  the  Gospel,  have 
thought  the  whole  of  it  to  be  but  the  result  of 
musings  and  reflections  on  what  the  author  had 
learned  of  Jesus  from  the  other  Gospel  stories. 
If  it  be  true  of  any  person  in  the  world's  history, 
that  he  developed  gradually  into  what  he  was  in 
his  inmost  character  by  the  seeing  of  another's 
character  and  life,  this  was  true  in  the  highest 
degree  of  John  in  relation  to  Jesus.  He  sat  at 
Jesus'  feet ;  he  gathered  into  himself  the  lessons  of 
His  history ;  he  contemplated  Him  as  the  perfect 
man  who  was  to  be  imitated  by  other  men,  if  they 
desired  perfection ;  he  looked  to  Him  as  revealing 
and  possessing  within  Himself  that  Hfe  of  God  which 

204 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

is  light,  and  in  which  there  is  no  darkness  at  all ; 
and,  as  he  looked,  he  became  more  and  more  like 
Him. 

Now  he  was  conscious  of  all  this.  He  knew  that 
he  was,  and  had  been  for  long  years  past,  a  child 
of  God,  and  that  he  had  been  growing  in  his  char- 
acter, from  the  first  days,  into  the  Divine  likeness 
through  his  seeing  the  Lord  Jesus  with  the  eye  of 
his  mind  and  soul.  But  if  he  knew  this  with  refer- 
ence to  the  past,  what  did  the  knowledge  bear  with 
it  respecting  the  future?  Nothing,  indeed,  as  to  the 
particular  circumstances,  or  employments,  or  condi- 
tions of  growth,  or  other  details  of  the  new  state  of 
being  upon  which  he  should  enter.  Of  all  this  he 
knew  no  more  as  he  came  to  the  closing  day  of  his 
Christian  life  on  earth  than  he  had  known  on  the  day 
of  its  beginning.  But  one  thing  his  experience  had 
placed  within  his  knowledge:  — that,  as  his  life  had 
grown,  in  some  measure,  into  the  likeness  of  God's  life 
through  the  sight  of  Jesus  in  the  past — a  partial  and 
limited  vision,  at  the  best,  because  of  the  limitations 
of  the  earthly  state,  —  it  would  grow  into  the  perfect 
likeness  of  that  life  when  he  should  come  to  see  Him 
in  all  the  glory  of  His  being,  precisely  as  He  is. 
The  promise  of  Jesus,  on  the  last  evening  of  His  life, 
had  assured  him  that  the  time  was  coming  when  He 
would  be  manifested.  The  history  of  his  own  inner 
life  had  made  known  to  him  all  the  rest  —  had  made 
it  certain,  beyond  a  doubt  or  a  fear,  that  when  Jesus 
should  be  manifested  he  would  be  like  Him;  and 
this  because  of  the  more  perfect  vision.     I  shall  see 

205 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND   FOR 

Him  as  He  is,  and  His  life  will  become  mine.  The 
influence  of  the  Divine  friendship,  which  begins  in 
this  world,  will  continue  forever  —  ever  penetrating 
and  transforming  and  glorifying  the  soul  which  has 
once  trusted  itself  and  its  future  to  the  love  and  care 
of  that  friendship. 

The  verses  declare  to  us  that  every  believer  has 
this  child-relationship  to  God,  which  the  writer  is 
himself  conscious  of  possessing.  If  the  life  of  the 
soul  is  the  development  of  a  principle  which  is 
implanted  through  a  Divine  influence,  the  life  must, 
of  course,  come  into  being  at  the  very  moment  of 
the  implanting  of  the  principle.  The  child-relation- 
ship begins  from  birth.  The  Apostle  addresses  all 
the  members  of  the  Christian  body,  to  whom  he 
wrote,  with  the  words  before  us,  and  declares  them 
to  be  true  of  all  alike.  He  claims  nothing  of  privi- 
lege or  blessing  for  himself  as  distinguished  from 
them,  and  nothing  apparently  for  himself,  at  this 
later  period  of  his  life,  beyond  what  he  saw  that  he 
had  fully  possessed  in  the  hour  when  he  first 
believed.  There  had  been  growth  since  then,  but 
no  change  of  life-principle.  What  is  involved  in  his 
words,  therefore,  both  for  the  present  and  the  future, 
belongs  to  all  — ■  to  the  youngest  Christian  as  truly 
as  to  the  oldest. 

It  is  also  worthy  of  notice  that — when  he  sug- 
gests the  evidences  or  indications  of  the  new  life  — 
they  are  those  which  the  youngest,  as  well  as  the 
oldest,  may  find  within  himself.  The  two  evidences 
which   are  brought  before  us  are  the  indwelling  in 

206 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

the  soul  of  something  which  the  world  —  the  un- 
believing, sinful  world  —  does  not  know ;  and  the 
out-going  of  the  soul's  desire  after  purity;  that  is,  a 
life-principle,  and  a  life-movement,  both  of  which  are 
marked  by  a  likeness  to  Christ.  The  reality  of  the 
life  is  not  determined  by  tJic  strength  of  this  principle, 
or  the  secured  results  of  this  movement,  but  by  their 
existence  in  the  soul.  The  man  who  is  conscious  of 
an  impulse  towards  right  living  therefore,  as  a  fol- 
lower of  Christ,  which  he  did  not  have  in  former 
years,  or  which  he  did  not  have  yesterday  it  may 
be,  and  who  is  ready  to  act  in  accordance  with  it  in 
a  loving,  trustful,  childlike  way,  may  know  that  he 
is  now  a  child  of  God  — just  beginning  his  new  life 
perhaps,  but  yet  a  true  child  of  the  Divine  family. 
And  the  work  for  to-morrow,  for  the  coming  years, 
for  the  life-time,  is  only  to  grow  towards  the  fulness 
of  Christ  himself. 

What  a  simple  and  beautiful  thing  it  is,  as  we  view 
it  in  the  light  of  the  experience  which  is  revealed  to 
us  in  these  verses.  Likeness  to  Christ  is  that  which 
enters  the  soul  at  the  hour  when  the  act  of  faith 
opens  to  the  Christian  the  new  career.  Likeness  to 
Christ  is  the  consummation  at  the  end,  when  the 
earthly  living  has  passed  into  the  heavenly,  and  the 
imperfection  of  the  one  has  become  the  perfectness 
of  the  other.  And  all  the  way  from  the  beginning 
to  the  ending,  this  likeness  is  the  result  of  a  study 
of  Christ's  character  —  the  lessons  and  influences  of 
His  life  transforming  themselves  into  the  principles 
and  actions  of  the  disciple's  life.  This  is  what  every 
believer  may  know:  — that  he  is  to-day  a  child  of 

207 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

God's  household,  and  that,  therefore,  he  will  be  like 
Him  as  He  is  revealed  in  Christ; — that  the  life- 
principle  unknown  by  the  world  and  the  life-move- 
ment of  pure  desire  will,  in  the  day  when  He  is 
manifested,  have  their  complete  and  victorious 
power  over  every  faculty  of  the  soul.  As  the 
imperfect  sight  of  the  present  has  occasioned  the 
partial  resemblance,  which  he  now  sees  within  him- 
self, the  seeing  Him  in  the  future  as  He  is  will  make 
the  resemblance  forever  complete. 

This  is  the  wonderful  thing  about  the  child-rela- 
tionship, and  the  thing  which  makes  it,  in  a  pure 
and  thoughtful  and  noble  household,  so  great  a 
blessing  for  the  life.  As  we  closely  observe  a  family 
history,  how  remarkable  it  is.  As  soon  as  the  child 
begins  his  development,  he  shows  to  all  about  him 
—  perhaps  unconsciously  to  himself- — -a  sort  of 
peculiar  life-principle  which  came  to  him  from  his 
father  or  his  mother,  and  which  makes  him  different 
in  his  qualities,  his  mental  growth,  his  peculiar  ex- 
hibitions of  virtue  and  character,  from  the  children 
of  other  families.  The  life-movement  is  along  the 
line  of  the  life-principle  ;  and,  as  he  grows  up  to  ma- 
turity, he  bears  on  the  ancestral  character  from  the 
past  generations  towards  the  future.  How  is  it  that  he 
grows  thus?  Not  by  rules  and  precepts  which  are 
laid  down  for  him.  Not  by  a  paternal  command 
that  requires  him  to  imitate  his  parents.  Not  even 
by  laboured  efforts  on  his  own  part  to  be  like  those 
whom  he  loves  in  his  home.  These  things,  especially 
the  one  last  mentioned,  have  their  influence  on  his 

208 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

living.  But  —  more  than  all  these  things,  and 
nearer  to  the  centre  of  life's  forces —  he  grows  by 
seeing  his  parents  as  tJicy  arc.  He  lives  in  their 
presence,  as  he  passes  from  childhood  to  maturity, 
and  their  life  becomes  his  life.  If  they  have  Chris- 
tian piety  filling  the  atmosphere  of  their  home,  the 
same  piety  comes  so  gradually,  and  gently,  and 
sweetly,  into  his  soul,  that  he  is  often  unconscious, 
and  they  are  also,  of  the  hour  when  the  new  power 
begins  to  bear  sway  over  his  soul.  If  they  are  intel- 
ligent and  thoughtful,  he  grows  into  their  likeness. 
If  generosity,  and  kindness,  and  purity,  and  peace, 
and  love  are  in  their  hearts,  the  years  pass  on  a 
little  way,  and  we  see  the  same  virtues  taking  strong 
hold  upon  his  character  and  life.  The  religious 
atmosphere  makes  the  child  religious ;  the  thought- 
ful atmosphere  makes  him  thoughtful.  So  we  often 
say ;  and  sometimes  we  wonder  at  the  result,  because 
so  little  of  what  we  call  positive  effort  seems  to  have 
been  put  forth.  But  the  child  sees  the  inner  life  of 
those  whose  child  he  is,  and  his  life,  in  after  years, 
is  like  theirs  beeanse  he  lias  seen  it.  And  how  little, 
as  his  course  begins  and  the  days  pass  by  him,  he 
realises  what  is  going  on  within  himself!  How  dim 
is  his  vision  of  what  is  to  follow  in  the  result !  He 
simply  goes  through  his  daily  employments  and 
amusements,  his  pleasures  and  his  duties, — what 
is  before  him,  he  cannot  tell.  But  he  is  seeing 
a  pure  life  and  breathing  a  thoughtful  and  Chris- 
tian air,  and,  by  and  by,  the  future  unfolds  to  him 
with  the  richest  blessing  which  this  world  can 
give. 

14  209 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

Such  also,  and  after  the  same  manner,  is  the 
child-relationship  to  God,  only  He  is  infinitely  purer 
and  better  than  we  are,  and  infinitely  nearer,  we 
may  almost  say,  to  our  souls  than  we  can  be  to  one 
another.  To  see  Him,  is  the  education  of  the  soul. 
To  see  Him  as  Pie  is,  is  to  be  like  Him.  The 
message,  which  the  Divine  messenger,  whom  this 
writer  had  known  in  the  past  years  and  with  whom 
he  hoped  soon  to  be  re-united,  brought  to  His 
followers,  was  of  this  child-relationship  and  its 
promise. 

What  the  Apostle  did  not  understand,  therefore, 
because  it  was  not  yet  made  manifest,  —  and  what 
we,  like  him,  cannot  yet  know,  —  was  only  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  the  remoter  future;  the 
special  conditions  of  the  life  beyond  the  veil.  The 
place  of  living  would  change,  and  what  the  change 
would  be,  precisely,  had  never  been  revealed  to  him, 
as  it  has  not  been  to  us.  But  this  is  a  comparatively 
small  matter.  It  belongs,  as  we  may  say,  to  the 
externals  and  the  accidental  only.  The  great  reality 
is  the  child  life  as  related  to  God,  which  came  into 
your  soul  or  mine  at  some  past  moment,  as  it  came 
to  the  Apostle  in  his  early  manhood.  That  life  takes 
hold  upon  the  eternal  future  and,  whatever  may  be 
the  imperfection  of  its  growth  thus  far,  so  it  be  really 
existing,  it  bears  within  itself  the  promise  of  an  all- 
glorious  perfectness.  It  is  not  yet  made  manifest 
what  we  shall  be,  but  we  know  that  when  He  shall 
be  manifested,  we  shall  be  like  Him ;  for  we  shall 
see  Him  even  as   He  is. 

2IO 


The  inner  life 

It  Is  not  strange,  then,  that  as  this  writer  saw  and 
felt  all  this,  he  rose  into  a  lofty  conception  of  the 
power  of  faith,  and  thought  of  the  life  that  begins 
with  faith  as  never  having  a  sight  or  taste  of  death. 
Death,  to  the  believer,  is  simply  the  passing  from 
the  partial  seeing  to  the  seeing  Him  as  He  is. 
The  sadness  and  sorrowfulness  of  its  meaning  are 
lost,  and  it  ceases  to  be  itself.  The  life  becomes 
one  and  perpetual,  now  here  and  after  a  season 
there,  but  ever  more  full  of  light  and  blessedness 
because  ever  more  in  the  likeness  of  His  life. 


211 


XV 

THE   PEACE   OF   CHRIST   A   RULING 
POWER 

Let  the  peace   of  CJirist   rule   in  your  Jieaj-ts,  to  the  which 
also  ye  ivere  called  in  one   body  j  and  be  ye  tJiankful. 

COLOSSIANS  iii.  15. 

THESE  words  have  a  striking  and  peculiar 
character  which  is  fitted  to  arrest  the  atten- 
tion of  the  thoughtful  reader.  There  is  seemingly  a 
strange  significance  in  themselves  —  what  can  they 
mean?  There  is  something  even  more  remarkable, 
if  possible,  in  their  position  and  prominence  —  what 
is  the  thought  which  they  press  upon  the  mind? 
That  peace  should  dwell  in  our  hearts ;  that  it 
should  be  within  them  a  power  for  calmness  or  com- 
fort; that  it  should  be  as  a  guard  keeping  the 
thoughts  in  restfulness  —  all  this  is  in  accordance 
with  its  nature,  we  say,  and  the  suggestion  of  these 
things  by  the  Christian  teachers  is  clearly  harmoni- 
ous with  the  doctrine  which  they  teach.  But  when 
we  think  of  a  ruling  power,  is  not  something  more 
active  and  forceful  needed  in  the  soul's  life,  we  ask, 
and  does  not  Christianity  so  represent  it?  Love, 
with  its  propelling  energy,  may  well  be  spoken  of 
as  such  a  power.  So  may  faith,  with  its  inspiration 
and  its    hold    upon    the    invisible.     So    again    may 

212 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

hope,  with  its  confident  and  courageous  outlook 
towards  the  future.  But  peace  is  quiet,  and  still, 
and  peaceful  —  how  can  it  rule ;  especially,  how 
can  it  rule  in  the  midst  of  that  struggle  of  the 
soul,  in  which  the  old  evil  forces,  all-controlling  in 
the  past,  are  to  be  put  away  and  destroyed,  and 
the  new  forces  of  the  new  life  are  to  be  made 
victorious? 

In  this  remarkable  passage,  however,  peace  is  set 
forth  as  governing,  rather  than  love  itself,  although 
love  is  in  the  very  same  passage  called  the  bond  of 
perfectness  and  is  urged  as  above  all  things  else 
that  are  mentioned  —  and  even  more  than  this, 
the  exhortation  respecting  peace  is  added  to  all  the 
other  exhortations,  as  if  in  the  fulfilment  of  this 
were  the  consummation  and  completeness  of  that 
which  was  demanded  and  desired  by  the  Christian 
teaching.  It  is  as  if  the  writer  had  said  to  his 
readers  :  In  order  that  you  may  so  set  your  mind  on 
the  things  that  are  above  as  to  find  and  possess  for 
yourselves  the  life  which  is  in  Christ  and  God,  and 
may  thus  put  off  the  old  man  with  his  doings,  and 
put  on  the  new  man  who  is  renewed  after  the  image 
of  Him  that  created  him,  you  must  let  the  peace  of 
Christ  rule  in  your  hearts.  This  is  that  to  which 
you  were  called.  This  is  that  for  which,  as  you 
realise  it  in  your  own  experience,  you  may  be  most 
truly  thankful.  The  very  strangeness  of  the  words, 
as  they  first  present  themselves  to  our  thought,  may 
appropriately  lead  us  to  consider  them  more  atten- 
tively. Such  an  attentive  consideration,  I  think, 
will  give  us  a  clearer  apprehension  of  their  meaning 

213 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

and,  at  the  same  time,  a  sense  of  their  fitness  and 
truthfulness. 

The  peace  here  spoken  of  is  not  mere  quietness 
of  spirit,  or  evenness  in  the  movement  of  the  hfe 
and  its  powers.  Were  it  this  alone,  it  could  hardly 
with  justice  be  described,  or  demanded,  as  a  govern- 
ing force.  And  yet  even  such  peace  is  no  insignifi- 
cant element  in  the  matter  of  developing  character 
or  of  accomplishing  a  man's  best  work.  We  may 
look  about  us,  and  we  shall  see  that  those  in  whom 
the  mental  or  moral  faculties  are  constantly  oper- 
ating without  friction  or  fretfulness,  are  the  men 
who,  at  least  when  other  things  are  equal,  are  the 
most  successful.  The  mind  or  soul  which  is  not  in 
peace  —  which  is  disturbed  by  anxiety  or  doubt  or 
fear  or  foreboding  —  loses  a  part,  often  a  large  part, 
of  its  energy  in  connection  with  these  things.  It 
must  overcome  them,  if  they  are  to  be  overcome,  by 
using  a  portion  of  its  forces  in  a  struggle  with  their 
power  or,  in  case  it  does  not  resist  them,  it  must  of 
necessity  abide  with  half  of  its  life  among  them,  not 
escaping  from  their  dominion  into  the  full  liberty  of 
its  own  joyous  action.  The  evenly,  easily  moving 
mind  on  the  other  hand,  tied  down  by  no  fetters, 
and  freely  working  by  the  exercise  of  all  its  facul- 
ties, is  ready  for  each  new  effort.  It  may  concen- 
trate itself  upon  that  to  which  it  is  called  at  any 
moment,  and  may  command  itself  wholly  for  the 
task  assigned.  It  has  nothing  behind,  or  apart,  to 
hinder  its  progress,  but  is  able  to  pass  on  with  its 
full  strength  from  what  has  been  accomplished  to 

214 


THE   INiXKR   LIFE 

what  is  to  be  effected  in  the  early  future.  So  too 
with  the  soul.  It  is  the  anxiety  about  the  old 
things  and  the  dwelling  among  them  that  restrain 
the  soul,  oftentimes,  in  the  putting  forth  of  all  its 
efforts  for  the  one  end  of  gaining  for  itself  the  new 
things.  Character  develops  slowly,  because  the 
development  is  with  but  a  part  of  the  forces.  The 
man  is  divided,  according  to  the  expressive  word 
which  the  New  Testament  writers  use  to  set  forth 
the  idea  of  anxiety.  He  is  drawn  this  way  and  that 
way,  and  is  not  one  zvitJdn  himself.  He  cannot  for- 
get the  past  in  such  a  sense  as  to  give  himself 
entirely  to  the  pressing  forward  towards  that  which 
is  before  him.  He  fails  therefore,  or  half-way  fails, 
where  he  might  otherwise  succeed.  There  must  be, 
in  this  sense  as  it  would  seem,  even  a  certain 
dominion  of  peace  within  the  soul,  or  the  end  is  not 
perfectly  secured.  If  the  peace  is  not  strictly,  and 
in  the  full  meaning  of  the  word,  the  ruling  force,  it 
unites  itself  with  the  ruling  force  and  helps  it  every- 
where and  always.  We  realise  this,  all  of  us,  for 
ourselves  so  soon  as  we  begin  to  study  the  expe- 
riences of  our  inmost  life  —  and  the  more  so,  as  we 
advance  along  the  line  of  the  years.  We  learn  the 
lesson  and  understand  the  truth,  whether  we  know 
the  peacefulness  as  our  own  personal  possession  or 
not.  The  case  is  one  where  the  absence  or  the 
presence  of  the  thing  desired  tells  the  same  story, 
though  it  tells  it  from  a  different  starting-point  and 
in  a  different  way.  And  I  believe  that  the  thought- 
ful man,  in  his  estimate  of  the  elements  of  his  real 
life-power,  as  to  their  relative  importance,  will  often 

215 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

question  which  is  of  greater  vahic  —  the  energy 
that  impels  him  to  action,  or  the  peacefuhiess 
which  enables  the  energy  to  have  its  full  impulse 
unrestrained. 

But  the  peace  to  which  our  verse  from  the 
Apostle's  letter  refers  is  something  more  than  this 
quietness  or  evenness,  of  which  we  are  speaking. 
It  is  called  the  peace  of  Christ,  and  is  counted 
among  the  powers  of  Christian  living.  It  is  an 
"^  element  of  Christ's  life  which  is  imparted  to  His 
followers'  lives,  and  is  to  be  apprehended,  in  its 
significance,  only  as  we  see  what  it  was  for  Him. 
The  expression  itself  seems  to  be  suggested  by  the 
words  which  Christ  used  in  His  talk  with  the  dis- 
ciples on  the  last  evening  before  His  death.  Peace 
I  leave  with  you.  He  said  to  them  at  that  time ;  my 
peace  I  give  unto  you.  And  then  He  added  the 
impressive  sentence :  Not  as  the  world  giveth,  give 
I  unto  you.  It  was  not  a  worldly  peace  in  any 
sense  of  the  word,  which  He  would  impart  to  them 
—  not  a  peace  even  which  might,  by  any  possibility, 
enter  the  mind  or  the  heart  apart  from  Himself,  and 
might,  by  reason  of  the  calm  and  even  movement 
of  the  life  which  it  should  secure,  add  to  all  the 
powers  and  successes  of  the  man  to  whom  it  came. 

X  It  was  above  and  beyond  this — a  possession  be- 
longing only  to  Himself,  which  should  be  for  His 
disciples  what  it  was  for  Him  and  which  they  could 
see  in  the  manifestation  of  its  nature  and  its  effi- 
cacy, if  they  would,  as  they  looked  upon  Him  at 
that  hour.     If  they  thus  looked,  they  would  recog- 

y     nise  it  as  an  active,  not  a  mere  passive  thing  —  a 

216 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

thing  of  force  and  energy,  which  could  rule  and 
ivas  7'uliug\h.c  Hfe  of  the  man.  If  they  looked  more 
carefully  and  more  continuously,  they  would  dis- 
cover it  as  fundamental  to  all  His  living — -as  true 
and  controlling   a  life-power  as  love  itself 

The  hour  when  Jesus  thus  used  the  words  in 
speaking  to  the  eleven  was  the  darkest  hour  in  His 
career.  It  was  the  closing  hour  in  a  long  succes- 
sion of  dark  ones,  in  which  His  soul  had  been  tested 
and  tried  to  its  deepest  depths.  It  was  the  critical 
hour  towards  which  all  the  past  had  been  moving, 
and  the  movement — to  human  thought,  at  least  — 
seemed  to  have  been  towards  failure  and  loss. 
What  did  the  peace  which  He  then  called  His 
peace  do  for  Him  —  what  was  it  within  Him?  It 
was  surely  something  more  than  mere  calmness  of 
spirit,  which  kept  Him  at  rest  among  the  doubts 
and  dangers  that  surrounded  His  life  and  His  cause. 
It  was  this,  but  it  was,  at  the  same  time,  much  more 
than  this.  It  was  something  which  gathered  into 
itself  all  His  far-reaching  thought  of  the  Divine 
plan  for  the  Divine  kingdom  —  all  His  willing  obe- 
dience to  His  Father's  will,  whithersoever  that  will 
should  call  Him  —  all  His  fixedness  of  resolve  to 
carry  out  the  idea  and  purpose  of  His  earthly  mis- 
sion —  all  His  heroism  of  self-sacrifice,  even  to  the 
consummation  of  His  sufferings  —  all  the  mighti- 
ness of  His  power  to  be  and  to  do  at  the  end  that 
for  which  He  had  been  sent  at  the  beginning.  It 
was  thus  inseparable  from  every  force  that  was  dis- 
coverable within  Him.  It  regulated  all  these  forces, 
and  held  them  in  their  true  adjustment  to  one  an- 

217 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

other.  It  directed  their  activity  in  accordance  with 
the  demand  of  the  hour,  and  so  imparted  its  own 
influence  that  they  moved  harmoniously.  It  be- 
came, in  and  of  itself,  an  inspiration  and  life-giving 
power  for  all  the  forces.  We  see  its  sovereign 
authority  and  its  impelling  energy  in  His  words  of 
every  sort  during   those  last   days. 

How  wonderful  those  words  were  as  they  turned 
towards  one  and  another  person  or  towards  one  or 
another  experience.  The  word  of  prayer  addressed 
to  the  Father,  Shall  I  say,  save  me  from  this  hour 
—  no  —  it  was  for  this  cause  that  I  came  unto  this 
hour.  The  word  to  the  disciples,  That  the  world 
may  know  that,  as  the  Father  hath  given  me  com- 
mandment, even  so  I  do,  arise,  let  us  go  hence. 
The  word  to  Peter,  Thinkest  thou  that  I  cannot 
pray  unto  my  Father,  and  he  shall  even  now  send 
me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  angels,  but  how 
then  should  the  scriptures  be  fulfilled,  that  so  it 
must  be?  The  word  to  the  Roman  governor.  Thou 
wouldest  have  no  power  at  all  against  me  except  it 
were  given  thee  from  above.  The  word  to  the  Jew- 
ish high-priest.  Henceforth  ye  shall  see  the  Son  of 
Man  sitting  at  the  right  hand  of  power,  and  coming 
on  the  clouds  of  heaven.  The  word  to  the  scorn- 
ful sceptic,  who  had  a  half-compassionate  contempt 
for  him,  Every  one  that  is  of  the  truth  heareth 
my  voice.  The  word  to  His  mother,  Woman,  be- 
hold thy  son,  and  to  the  disciple,  behold  thy 
mother.  The  word  to  the  sorrowing  eleven,  I 
have  overcome  the  world.  The  word  for  Him- 
self,   I  am  not  alone,   because    the   Father   is   witii 

218 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

me.  The  word  for  His  work  and  His  life,  It  is 
finished. 

These  words,  in  their  appropriateness  to  each 
moment  —  giving  expression,  at  one  moment,  to  a 
sense  of  power;  at  another,  to  a  subHme  confidence 
in  the  future ;  at  another,  to  an  assurance  of  victory 
already  secured ;  at  another,  to  a  consciousness  of 
union  with  the  Father;  at  another,  to  a  tender  affec- 
tion for  those  whom  He  was  to  leave  behind  Him 
and  a  thoughtfulness  for  their  coming  necessity ;  at 
another,  to  a  ready  submission  to  the  will  of  God, 
and  the  final  summons  of  duty ;  and,  at  the  last,  to 
a  deep  and  satisfying  conviction  that  all  things  per- 
taining to  the  great  mission  had  been  accomplished 
—  were  all  governed  and  sent  forth  by  the  peace 
within  Him.  They  answered,  each  and  every  one 
of  them,  to  that  peace.  They  would  have  been  im- 
possible without  it.  They  sprang  forth  from  it  and 
rose  out  of  it,  as  naturally  as  love  comes  forth  from 
the  loving  soul,  or  truth  from  the  truthful  soul  — 
and  after  the  same  manner.  The  inspiration  of  them 
all  was  in  it,  as  it  held  them  all  in  its  power  and 
ruled   them  all. 

The  Christian  believer  is  an  imitator  of  Christ  and 
a  recipient  of  His  spirit.  The  peace  therefore 
which  is  given  to  him  from  the  Master  will  become 
for  him,  and  will  work  within  him,  that  which  it  was 
and  wrought  in  the  Master's  life.  It  will  have  do- 
minion throughout  the  whole  sphere  of  the  inward 
man.  It  will  hold  all  things  under  its  authority  and 
will  send  forth  its  guiding  and  impelling  force  into 
every    emotion,    and    every    resolution,    and    every 

219 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

action,  and  every  consecration,  which  pertain  to 
him  as  a  man,  ever  and  everywhere  moving  him  to 
the  noblest  hving  in  all  the  heroism,  whether  of 
suffering  or  of  triumph,  which  he  may  know  in  his 
career. 

It  is  interesting  to  look  into  the  Apostle's  thought, 
as  he  sets  forth  the  development  of  the  individual 
life  in  the  passage  from  which  our  verse  is  taken, 
and  to  see  how  the  ruling  peace  is  related  to  the 
whole  of  it  from  its  beginning  to  its  ending.  The 
ruling  peace  settles  all  questions,  directs  all  forces, 
turns  the  mind  whither  it  should  turn,  establishing 
it  also  in  fixedness  there,  and  brings  to  a  gradual 
realisation  the  completeness  of  the  true  life.  In  the 
conflict  between  anger  and  kindness  —  if  we  study 
the  details  which  he  gives  —  or  between  falsehood 
and  truth,  or  between  evil  desire  and  holy  purpose, 
or  between  the  old  impulses  and  powers,  any  or  all 
of  them,  and  the  new,  it  determines  which  should 
and  must  prevail.  In  the  work  of  putting  off  the 
old  man  and  putting  on  the  new  man,  it  at  once 
adjusts  the  soul  to  its  task  and  points  to  it  the 
right  way.  In  the  matter  of  the  seeking  of  the 
things  that  are  above,  it  gives  inspiration,  by  show- 
ing that  itself  abides  in,  and  in  connection  with, 
those  things.  In  the  sphere  of  the  promise  of  the 
future,  it  strengthens  confidence  by  imparting  of 
its  own  calm  assurance  that  the  promise  will  be 
realised.  The  word  which  the  Apostle  uses  to  ex- 
press the  riding  idea  is  a  peculiar  one,  as  to  the 
central  thought  of  which  there  has  been  somewhat 
of  questioning  —  some  holding  that  the   arbitrating 

220 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

or  judging  function  of  a  ruling  authority,  as  in  a 
conflict  between  opposite  forces,  is  prominent ;  and 
others,  that  the  special  meaning  is  that  of  the  ruler's 
bestowal  of  reward,  at  the  end  of  a  contest,  or 
perhaps  that  of  his  direction  or  guidance  of  a 
course,  or  a  struggle ;  and  others,  again,  that  all 
limitation  of  significance  passes  away,  and  that  the 
word  is  only  a  forceful  one  expressing  the  idea  of 
governing  in  the  widest  and  largest  sense.  But  the 
ruling  peace,  as  we  trace  its  influence  and  power  in 
the  life-process  which  he  opens  before  us,  satis- 
fies all  these  meanings,  and  moves,  as  we  may  say, 
in  its  significance  through  them  all,  as  it  directs  and 
controls  the  living  forces. 

Let  us  turn  our  thought  now  towards  our  own 
personal  experience,  and  see  how  interesting  the 
thought  becomes  to  us  there.  There  are  times  when 
every  Christian  believer  knows  within  himself  the 
presence,  not  only  of  a  peaceful  spirit,  giving  calm- 
ness, but  of  a.  ruling  peace,  taking  the  life  under  its 
authority.  These  times  are  passing  seasons  with 
most  of  us,  indeed,  but  they  continue  long  enough  to 
teach  us  their  lesson  and  reveal  to  us  some  measure 
of  the  truth.  How  quickly,  as  they  come,  do  we 
realise  that  we  are,  for  the  hour,  adjusted  in  our 
thinking  and  purpose  to  the  Divine  plan,  and  how 
soon  after  their  coming  do  all  thoughts  and  impulses 
place  themselves  in  readiness  for  the  word  of 
authority  which  the  ruling  power  may  speak.  That 
authoritative  word  holds  in  restraint,  or  sets  in 
motion,  according  as  the  movement  of  the  plan 
demands.     The  man  therefore  acts  with  the  right 

221 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

forces  at  the  right  moment,  and  the  acting  and  rest- 
ing forces  aHke,  in  peaceful  adjustment  to  each 
other,  serve  the  great  end  to  be  secured.  I  look 
within  myself,  the  Christian  says  at  such  a  season, 
and  behold,  the  old  doubting  and  disquietude  have 
passed  away.  I  listen  for  the  inward  voice,  which 
becomes  to  me  as  the  Divine  voice,  and  in  obedience 
to  it  I  put  forth  the  energy  which  the  hour  calls  for. 
I  lose  anxiety  for  distant  results,  and  centre  my 
thought  upon  present  duty  and  service.  I  strive  to 
be  kindly  when  the  call  for  kindness  comes,  and 
self-sacrificing  when  it  comes  with  the  summons  for 
sacrifice,  and  heroic  when  the  duty  involves  heroism. 
I  find  my  powers  at  each  moment,  and  in  answer 
to  each  call,  in  readiness  or  order  for  their  work. 
They  are  so  because  peace  is  the  reigning  power, 
and  hence  they  cannot  contend  against  each  other, 
or  usurp  each  other's  places,  or  move  out  of 
harmony  with  the  common  purpose  of  good.  How 
beautiful  life  seems  to  be  for  the  moment — how 
right  it  seems  !  Character  takes  a  new  starting-point 
for  its  growth  and  development.  Manhood  becomes 
larger  and  nobler,  as  in  the  image  of  Christ  and  of 
God. 

The  season  passes  indeed,  and  we  fall  backward 
into  the  old  condition,  but  the  lesson  is  not  lost 
altogether,  nor  are  we  altogether  what  we  were  be- 
fore. The  entrance  way  for  peace  in  the  after  days 
opens  more  easily  into  our  souls,  than  it  did  long 
ago.  The  experience,  when  it  has  ceased  as  a  present 
experience,  lingers  with  us  as  a  testimony  and  as  a 
bright  vision,  and,  in  some  hour  of  new  impulse,  we 

222 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

find  it  in  its  reality  once  more.  This  is  the  process 
and  progress  —  even  as  the  Apostle  recognised  it  — 
and,  as  the  years  pass,  we  know  within  ourselves 
what  he  taught  and  urged  upon  his  readers.  The 
ruling  peace  becomes  to  our  thought  and  our  life 
more  and  more  the  central  force  of  all  forces,  taking 
love  and  humility  and  forgiveness  and  courage  and 
every  virtue  of  the  manly  Christian  life  under  its 
sway,  and  making  them,  in  their  harmonious  develop- 
ment, triumphant  in  the  character.  We  see  in  this 
ruling  peace  the  power  which  realises  for  us  what  it 
realised  for  the  Master,  and  know  it  joyfully  as  the 
Master's  peace  given  to  His  disciples. 

We  see  also  —  through  our  own  experience  —  the 
truth  and  fitness  of  the  statement  which  the  Apostle 
adds  to  his  exhortation.  Unto  this  peace,  he  says 
to  each  one  of  his  readers,  you  were  called.  For 
this  reason,  let  it  ever  abide  within  you  and  rule 
over  you.  The  calling  of  God,  according  to  the 
strictest  sense  of  the  words  —  as  we  find  it  repre- 
sented in  many  passages  of  the  New  Testament 
writings  —  is  a  calling  to  participation  in  the  Divine 
kingdom,  its  life  and  its  rewards  as  they  shall  mani- 
fest themselves  in  the  future.  But  that  life  and 
those  rewards  rest  upon,  and  consist  in,  what  the 
soul,  by  means  of  the  call  and  under  the  influences 
of  the  kingdom,  possesses  in  itself.  To  make  the 
soul  what  it  should  be,  is  the  purpose  of  God.  To 
give  it  the  characteristics  of  the  kingdom,  and  make 
its  life  to  move  in  the  atmosphere  of  the  kingdom's 
life,  is  that  for  which   He  is,  first  of  all,  working  in 

223 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

the  carrying  out  of  His  plan  of  love.  The  soul  that 
is  right  will  secure  the  blessedness.  And  so  the 
call  directs  itself  to  the  end  of  the  soul's  right  living 
—  to  the  impelling  of  the  soul  towards  the  sphere 
where  right  living  finds  its  natural  home.  That 
sphere,  as  we  have  already  seen,  is  the  sphere  of 
peace.  The  right  life  is  the  life  which  is  adjusted 
properly  to  every  duty  and  every  privilege.  The  life 
governed  and  guided  by  the  peace  of  Christ  is  the 
life  which  is  thus  adjusted.  The  Christian  is  thus 
as  truly  called  to  peace,  as  he  is  called  to  heaven. 
He  is  called  to  peace,  we  may  fitly  say,  because  he  is 
called  to  heaven ;  for  the  heavenly  life  is  but  the 
experience,  in  its  ever-continuing  fulness,  of  that 
happy  state  of  the  soul  in  which  Christ's  peace  is 
the  ruling  force. 

The  exhortation  after  this  manner  answers  to  the 
call,  and  finds  its  legitimate  and  fundamental  reason 
in  it.  To  be  called  to  peace,  and  to  live  outside  of 
its  sphere,  is  a  contradiction  at  the  very  centre  of 
the  life.  To  be  called  to  it  as  the  ruling  element 
and  principle  in  the  soul's  developing  of  itself  for 
the  kingdom  in  the  future,  and  not  to  give  it  domin- 
ion over  all  things  else,  in  the  progress  of  that 
development,  is  to  deny  the  call  at  the  outset,  and 
to  lose  the  richness  of  its  reward  at  the  end. 

But  the  exhortation  takes  into  itself  the  force  of 
an  additional  reason  beyond  the  one  just  mentioned. 
Ye  were  called  unto  peace  as  individuals ;  but  not 
only  this,  Ye  were  all  of  you  called  unto  peace  — 
the  Apostle  says  to  the  whole  company  of  his 
readers  —  in  one  body ;  that  is,  to  the  end  that  you 

224 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

may  become  one  body,  or  as  connected  with  the 
fact  that  you  are  members  of  one  body.  The  end 
and  purpose  of  your  Christian  calling  is  this  very 
thing,  to  which  you  are  urged.  The  foundation  of 
unity,  on  which  the  calling  rests,  is  itself  this  very 
thing.  In  either  view  or  in  both  views,  the  common 
call  adds  its  emphasis  to  the  individual  call,  and  the 
oneness  of  the  life  of  all  declares  itself  to  be  found 
where,  and  only  where,  the  personal  life  of  each 
abides.  The  Christian  believer  is  one  of  a  brother- 
hood. He  cannot  dwell  apart  in  himself,  or  grow, 
after  the  true  manner,  within  the  soul  in  sepa- 
ration from  all  others.  He  must  ever  be  con- 
scious, not  only  of  a  life-principle  which  he  tries 
always  to  strengthen  in  its  power  within  his  own 
soul,  but  of  a  life-principle  in  which  he  shares  with 
his  fellow-believers.  The  forces  within  them  must 
be  the  forces  within  him.  The  calling  which  comes 
to  him  —  and  he  must  know  this  fact,  if  he  would 
know  the  truth  and  live  as  he  ought  —  the  calling 
which  comes  to  him  from  God  is  one  that  rests  r 
upon  his  unity  in  life  with  others  and  moves  towards 
a  harmony  in  life  with  them.  The  man  is  not  called 
alone  as  if  to  a  solitude,  but  as  one  in  a  company  — 
as  one  who  has  a  participation  in  the  same  inward 
life-powers  in  which  others  of  the  company  partici- 
pate and  one  who  is  to  have  a  community  of  life 
with  them.  The  brotherhood  accordingly  can  never 
be  lost  sight  of,  whether  in  his  thought  of  himself 
or  of  them  —  whether  he  is  looking  at  the  sources 
and  forces  of  his  own  Christian  living  or  of  theirs. 
And  the  common  principle,  which  at  once  rules  in 
15  225 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

him  and  goes  forth  in  its  influence  from  him  to  them, 
must  be  this  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks  —  namely, 
ruling  peace  —  for  this  is  the  one  thing  which  unites 
the  brotherhood  according  to  the  Master's  desire 
and  prayer. 

The  Apostle's  exhortation  therefore  justifies  itself 
in  every  way  as  we  look  carefully  into  it.  It  lays 
hold  upon  that  which  was  a  central  force  in  Christ's 
life,  and  which  manifested  itself  most  wonderfully  in 
the  hours  and  days  of  His  history  when  the  greatest 
of  all  demands  and  all  necessities  came  upon  Him. 
It  appeals  to  that  which,  in  every  individual  soul 
inspired  by  the  inspiration  of  Christ's  history,  at 
once  reveals  itself  to  be  the  power  that  brings  the 
life  most  happily  and  perfectly  into  harmony  with 
His.  It  presses  with  all  emphasis  upon  the  indi- 
vidual believer,  and  upon  the  company  of  believers, 
the  most  impressive  of  reasons  —  those  reasons 
which  are  vitally  connected  with  their  calling  to  the 
new  kingdom,  and  their  union  with  one  another ;  — 
and,  by  the  energy  which  pertains  to  these  reasons, 
commends  to  thought  and  feeling  the  duty  of  which 
it  speaks.  And  throughout  all  the  words  which  are 
used,  it  keeps  before  the  mind  the  example  of 
Christ  and  the  gift  of  Christ — thus  tenderly  and 
forcefully  suggesting  the  imitation  of  the  one  and 
the  joyful  reception  of  the  other. 

After  our  thought  of  all  this,  we  cannot  regard  it 
as  strange  that  the  words  which  the  Apostle  adds  in 
closing  the  verse,  should  be  the  words,  Be  ye  thank- 

226 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

ful  —  or,  as  in  the  strictness  of  their  meaning  they 
read,  Become  thankful,  as  with  a  new  measure  of 
gratitude,  and  an  ever-increasing  measure.  It  is  as 
if,  in  his  review  of  what  he  had  said,  he  seemed  to 
himself  to  have  given  his  readers  a  beautiful  vision 
of  the  peace  of  Christ,  after  the  manner  in  which  it 
enters,  and  may  enter,  into  the  Christian's  soul ; 
and  of  the  same  peace  as,  in  its  becoming  a  ruling 
power  there,  it  may  subdue  all  things  to  itself,  and 
may  bring  the  life  into  harmony  and  unity  in  all  its 
development;  and  again  of  the  same  peace,  as  it 
may  carry  this  harmony  outward  from  the  one  soul 
to  all  souls,  and  establish  the  true  unity  among  all; 
—  and  now,  at  the  end,  he  finds  but  one  feeling  that 
can  answer  to  the  thought,  and  but  one  word  appro- 
priate for  himself  or  for  them.  What  could  the 
word  or  the  feeling  be,  but  thankfulness  —  for  the 
possibility  and  the  reality  of  the  vision. 

And  so  the  word  comes  down  to  us  enriched,  if 
we  may  say  it,  with  the  experience  of  the  genera- 
tions since  the  Apostle's  day.  We  too  may  well 
move  on  to  the  realising  of  the  vision,  and  to  the 
joyful  possession  of  the  peace,  with  an  ever-abound- 
insf  gratitude  to  God. 


227 


XVI 

THE   LAW   OF   LIBERTY 

If  any  man  is  a  hearer  of  the  word,  and  not  a  doer,  he  is  like 
unto  a  man  beholding  his  natural  face  in  a  mirror  j  for  he 
beholdeth  himself,  and goeth  away,  and  straightway  forget- 
teth  what  manner  of  tnan  he  was.  But  he  that  looketh  into 
the  perfect  law,  the  law  of  liberty,  and  so  continueth,  being 
not  a  hearer  that  forgetteth,  but  a  doer  that  worketh,  this 
man  shall  be  blessed  in  his  doing.  —  James  i.  23-25. 

THE  word  of  the  Divine  message,  or  what  we 
often  call  the  Gospel,  is  here  presented  to  our 
minds  as  a  rule  of  conduct  and  life.  The  writer 
takes  up  the  thought  of  it,  as  we  may  say,  at  a 
later  point  of  development,  or  from  a  different  point 
of  view,  as  compared  with  that  which  we  discover 
many  times  in  the  Pauline  epistles.  To  the  Pauline 
mind  the  Gospel  seems  to  manifest  itself  most  readily 
as  a  system  of  forgiveness  and  justification.  It 
opens  the  way  by  which  the  past  can  be  set  aside  or 
remedied  and  the  soul  can  escape  from  the  burdens 
and  dangers  connected  with  it.  It  then  bids  the 
soul  move  on  in  its  new  course  unfettered  by  the  old 
sins  and  fears,  and  fills  it  with  all  hope  and  confi- 
dence as  it  trusts  God  lovingly  for  the  future.  But 
Paul  himself,  happily  and  peacefully  as  he  turned 
his  mind  to  this  conception  of  the  word,  had 
another  thought  which  dwelt  upon  it  at  a  later  stage 

228 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

of  its  working.  The  new  life  was  not  only  to  begin, 
but  to  go  forward.  It  needed  to  go  forward  accord- 
ing to  a  law  peculiar  to  itself —  to  move  to  an  end 
under  the  guidance  of  rules  and  principles  of  its 
own.  A  system  of  forgiveness  and  a  law  of  living  — 
these  two  elements  pertain  to  the  word,  and  must 
pertain  to  it,  if  it  is  to  accomplish  the  Divinely- 
intended  result.  This  writer,  by  reason  of  the  spe- 
cial tendencies  of  his  thinking  and  the  natural 
movement  of  his  mind,  looks  most  readily  at  the  life 
as  developing,  rather  than  beginning;  in  its  growth 
in  the  right  way,  rather  than  its  moment  of  turning 
from  the  wrong  way.  The  rule  of  the  true  life,  how 
is  it  to  be  regarded  and  used  —  this  is  the  question 
which  he  would  ask  and  answer.  The  special  words 
which  he  employs  are  impressively  suggestive. 

The  word  of  the  message,  he  says,  is  a  law.  To 
his  mind  this  expression  naturally  presented  itself  as 
connected  with  his  personal  relation  to  the  Mosaic 
system.  A  strict  observer  of  the  duties  imposed  by 
that  system,  he  looked  with  deepest  reverence  upon 
the  law,  which  the  Old  Testament  contained,  as  the 
revelation  of  the  Divine  will  respecting  human  living. 
No  new  system  introduced  by  God  could  have  any 
other  end  than  this  had  had,  or  could  be  appropri- 
ately designated  by  any  other  name.  But  it  is 
interesting  to  notice  that,  when  he  assigns  this  name 
to  it,  he  adds  a  descriptive  phrase  having  two  parts. 
He  calls  it  the  perfect  law,  and  the  law  of  liberty. 
He  had  not  been  under  the  influence  of  the  teaching 
of  Jesus,  and  of  his  thoughts  concerning  Him,  with- 

229 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

out  seeing  the  differences  between  the  new  system 
and  the  old.  Stern  moralist  of  the  older  type  as  he 
was,  he  had  learned  long  before  the  time  of  his 
writing,  even  as  Paul  had,  that  there  was  something 
of  imperfection,  with  reference  to  tJic  working potver 
for  the  life  of  men,  in  the  law  which,  as  a  revelation 
of  the  Divine  tvill,  was  so  clear  and  so  full.  The 
study  of  his  own  life  and  of  the  lives  of  those  about 
him  had  made  this  imperfection  continually  more 
evident.  The  perfect  thing  was  to  be  waited  for  in 
a  development  or  manifestation  beyond  that  of  the 
imperfect  thing.  The  latter  must  give  way  to,  and 
pass  into  the  former.  The  Gospel  was  to  realise, 
and  had  realised,  what  the  law  could  not  do.  It 
was  to  secure  life  in  its  completeness. 

If  we  inquire  after  the  elements  which,  being 
added  in  the  new  system,  justified  this  title  oi  per- 
fect, we  may  find  them  at  two  points.  The  word 
which  Jesus  brought,  opened  on  the  one  side,  to  His 
disciples  a  wider  and  deeper  view  of  the  old  law 
than  had  been  known  before.  They  saw,  under  His 
teaching,  that  there  was  no  limitation  in  the  demand 
for  human  love,  and  service,  and  duty,  to  the  bound- 
aries of  nations  or  of  parties,  but  that  everything 
was  wide-reaching  as  the  world,  and  far-reaching  as 
the  results  of  action  could  reach  in  the  present  and 
the  future.  Life  was  no  narrow  thing.  Individual 
life  was  not  confined  within  any  limited  circle  of 
surroundings.  The  law  must  become  grander  as 
life  became  larger.  The  all-embracing  character  of 
it,  as  it  was  now  apprehended,  changed  its  imper- 
fection  to   pcrfcctness,   and    the  word   of  the    new 

230 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

message  revealed  this  all-embracing  character.  They 
also  saw,  under  His  teaching,  as  a  second  thing,  that 
the  law  penetrated,  in  a  measure  which  they  had  not 
realised  before,  into  the  depths  of  the  soul.  The 
outward  act  was  revealed  to  be  far  outside  of,  and 
distant  from  the  source  within,  and  that  hidden 
source  was  the  place  to  which  the  demand  for  right 
living  directed  itself.  Life  was  discovered  to  be  at 
the  centre  of  the  personality.  It  was  found  in  the 
thoughts  rather  than  the  deeds;  and  the  law  was 
made  to  reach  inward,  as  it  was  made  to  reach  out- 
ward —  into  the  inmost  part  of  the  man,  as  unto  the 
widest  limits  of  his  relation  to  other  men.  The  fact 
that  the  word  moved  thus  inward  made  the  law  per- 
fect —  making  it  deep  in  its  reach  even  as  life  itself 
is  deep.  The  perfection  was  revealed  when  the 
recesses  of  the  life  were  opened.  The  new  system 
did  what  the  old  had  failed  to  accomplish. 

But  these  elements  —  or  rather  this  one  element 
operating  in  two  directions  —  were  but  secondary, 
as  connected  with  the  perfectness  of  the  new  system. 
The  true  and  vital  element  was  found  in  its  central 
working-force.  The  word  made  love  known  as  this 
force  in  the  soul  of  the  man,  and  as  the  source  of 
what  was  given  him  in  Christ.  There  was  a  weakness 
in  the  old  law,  which  was  fatal  to  its  success,  at  just 
this  point.  Love  was  not  manifestly  at  its  centre. 
But  the  word  of  the  message  told  the  story  of 
Jesus.  It  set  forth  His  life  as  related  to  the  law, 
and  showed  how  He  fulfilled  its  demands,  as  under 
the  guidance  of  the  great  all-controlling  principle. 
It  declared   His  life   also    in  its  relation  to  men  — 

231 


THOUGHTS   OF  AXD   FOR 

animated  from  its  beginning  to  its  ending  by  love 
to  men  and  to  all  men.  It  made  known  how  this 
love  dwelt  in  His  deepest  soul  —  how  it  ruled  and 
guided  all  things  there — how  it  impelled  all  action 
from  its  most  secret  sources  and  purified  the  out- 
going life  everywhere  —  how  it  took  all  demands 
and  commands  into  itself  and  made  the  fulfilment 
of  them  beautiful  service  to  God  and  to  men,  as 
that  fulfilment  realised  itself  in  the  sphere  of  the 
outward  life.  It  did  more  even  than  this.  It 
brought  this  love,  so  wonderfully  manifested  in 
Jesus'  life,  into  the  closest  personal  relation  to 
each  individual  man  to  whom  it  addressed  itself. 
It  said  to  each  one,  This  life,  thus  inspired  and 
guided  and  governed,  was  lived  in  all  its  move- 
ment, and  in  the  great  things  that  it  accom- 
plished, for  you.  You  are  what  you  are  in  the 
possibilities  of  your  personal  living,  because  it  was 
thus  lived.  •  The  future  of  good  for  you  will  rest 
upon  it. 

The  word  is  a  law,  but  it  is  a  law  with  a  working- 
force  in  it ;  a  law,  not  imperfect  because  it  cannot 
bring  to  pass  the  results  it  desires,  but  having  with 
itself  its  own  living  power  —  the  inspiration  of  love 
which  moves  the  soul  of  him  who  receives  it  to 
do  its  bidding.  Herein  is  the  secret  of  its  perfec- 
tion. The  other  elements  already  mentioned  unite 
with  this,  as  they  deepen  and  widen  the  reach 
of  the  force  which  pertains  to  it.  But  they  are 
second  only,  while  it  is  first,  because  that  which  is 
the  working-force,  dwells  not  in  them,  but  in  it 
alone. 

232 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

At  this  point  we  draw  near  to  the  other  descrip- 
tive word  which  the  writer  uses  —  the  law  of  hberty. 
The  old  system  was  ever  liable  to  become  for  men 
a  bondage,  because  it  presented  itself  to  them  as  a 
system  of  rules  and  commands.  The  inspiration 
of  the  obedience  to  it  was  not  found  within  it.  But 
when  the  new  system  founded  itself  on  the  love  of 
God  as  manifested  in  Jesus,  and  made  its  appeal  to 
that  love  in  addressing  each  individual  man,  it 
made  obedience  a  new  thing.  The  love  revealed 
stirred  the  love  of  the  soul  in  return,  and  this  love 
at  once  became  the  controlling  power  in  the  life. 
The  result  was  what  it  always  is  when  such  an  in- 
spiration moves  the  man.  Commands  seem  to  lose 
their  character  as  words  of  governmental  authority. 
Rules  are  no  longer  thought  of  as  limiting  or  fetter- 
ing the  life.  The  law  is  not  a  letter  that  kills,  or 
a  restraining  force  that  awakens  the  opposition 
of  the  soul,  or  a  thing  which  merely  compels,  by 
its  threatening  of  penalty,  a  yielding  to  its  require- 
ment. Privilege  takes  the  place  of  rules  —  the  >>~ 
privilege  of  rendering  service  to  another,  who  on 
his  part  has  done  everything  for  us.  The  man, 
with  the  new  revelation  in  his  soul,  finds  himself 
joyous  in  his  doing  of  what  he  is  asked  to  do,  where 
he  had  been  full  of  unwillingness,  or  rebellious  as 
against  superior  power.  The  whole  system  under 
which  he  lives  puts  on  a  new  appearance  to  his 
view.  It  is  arranged  in  all  its  parts,  and  in  its 
every  demand  upon  him,  for  the  best  and  truest 
development  of  his  personal  life.  The  rules  are 
simply  the  method  of  growth  formulated  in  words. 

233 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

Obedience  to  them  is  the  means  of  reaching  the 
end.  It  is  that  by  which  the  soul  takes  to  itself 
the  living  forces  and  makes  them  effective.  It  is 
that  which  brings  the  imperfect,  yet  growing  life 
into  union  with  the  perfect  life  —  the  life  of  man 
with  the  life  of  God,  —  and  into  such  union  that 
the  one  can  be  changed,  steadily  and  rapidly,  into  the 
likeness  of  the  other.  The  spirit  which  enters  the 
man  is  no  longer  a  spirit  of  bondage.  It  is  a  spirit 
of  sonship.  The  whole  relation  is  as  of  a  son 
to  a  father — and  this,  not  a  father  beset  with  the 
earthly  weakness,  who  loses  himself,  ever  and  anon, 
in  wilful  assertion  of  his  own  will  or  in  arbitrary 
exercise  of  authority,  but  a  father,  who  realises  in 
himself,  and  in  his  relation  to  his  son,  all  the  teach- 
ings of  wisdom,  and  gentleness,  and  affection,  which 
the  long  years  give  as  they  pass.  The  spirit  of 
sonship  is  the  spirit  of  freedom  when  the  fatherhood 
is  such  as  this,  and  when  the  sonship  answers  on 
its  part  to  the  fatherhood  on  its  part.  What  is  the 
law  between  the  two?  Surely  it  is  the  law  of  liberty. 
There  is  no  bondage,  and  never  has  been  since  the 
two  came  to  know  and  understand  each  other.  The 
life  is  freedom,  and  the  rule  of  the  life  is  freedom's 
rule. 

It  was  a  great  thing  for  one  who  had  lived  under 
the  old  system,  and  had  been  so  strict  an  observer 
of  it  in  its  requirements  as  a  legal  system,  to  receive 
into  his  mind  such  a  revelation  as  this.  But  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  had  made  the  light  clear;  and 
the  darkness  had  passed  away.  The  law  meant 
^     liberty  —  not  liberty   without    law    or    against    law, 

234 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

but  liberty  working  out  the  fulness  of  free  and 
perfect  life,  in  union  with  the  Divine  Father's  life, 
through  the  law  that  is  essential  to  its  own  develop- 
ment. This  was  the  wonder  and  the  glory  of  the 
Christian  revelation.  The  rules  of  the  Divine  life  in 
the  soul  of  man  were  the  rules  pertaining  to  the 
orderly  and  natural  movement  of  that  life ;  and  the 
natural  movement  is  of  necessity  a  free  movement. 
But  the  free  movement  in  this  true  life  is  inspired 
by  love,  and  when  this  enters  there  is  forgetfulness 
of  all  except  its  promptings.  These  promptings  are 
to  fulness  of  service,  to  largeness  of  obedience,  to 
the  fulfilment  of  every  demand  as  in  devotion  to 
a  friend  and  benefactor  and  father,  to  the  giving 
of  all  to  one  who  has  given  all,  to  the  giving  of  the 
self  to  Him  who  has  given  Himself.  The  spirit  of 
freedom,  not  of  bondage,  is  the  spirit  of  the  Chris- 
tian system.  Its  law  is  the  law  of  liberty  —  the 
law  by  which  the  son  of  the  Divine  Father  freely 
guides  his  life  and  makes  it  like  the  Father's  life. 

The  third  expression  which  may  arrest  our  atten- 
tion in  the  writer's  verses  is  this :  He  that  lookcth 
into  the  perfect  law,  and  so  continiicth.  The  word 
here  used  is  a  peculiar  one  which  denotes  a  very 
intent  and  careful  examination.  The  man  is  con- 
ceived of  as  looking  thus  intently  into  the  Christian 
rule  of  life  and  conduct ;  and  as  doing  so  —  not 
like  the  man  who  beholds  his  face  in  a  mirror  and 
passes  on  his  way  forgetful  of  what  he  is,  but  with 
continuous  earnestness.  Such  looking  the  writer 
urges  as  essential.     The  necessity  of  it  he  appre- 

235 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND  FOR 

ciated,  as  we  may  not  doubt,  because  of  the  revela- 
tion of  the  new  system,  which  he  had  received,  as 
a  perfect  law  of  liberty.  Viewing  the  old  law  as  it 
was  viewed  in  the  earlier  days,  the  man  who  would 
conform  his  life  to  it  must,  as  it  would  seem,  have 
looked  into  it  with  no  passing  or  careless  look. 
It  had  rules  for  every  day  and  every  action,  and 
the  man  must  know  them  and  know  whether  he 
was  fully  conforming  to  them,  if  he  would  discover 
peace  for  himself.  But  here  was  a  new  system, 
involving  the  freedom  of  sonship.  Its  animating 
and  governing  principle  was  love.  The  love  was 
to  be  inspired  by  a  love  which  had  gone  before 
and  given  all  blessing.  This  love-principle,  having 
its  root  and  foundation  in  the  Divine  love,  was  to 
penetrate  every  rule,  impel  every  action,  control 
every  feeling,  stir  the  life  in  every  part.  It  was  to 
be  the  working  force  that  was  always  in  operation. 
It  was  to  renew  the  man  on  all  sides,  and  in  every 
department  of  his  character  and  his  soul.  In  the 
system  and  its  teachings  the  ideal  of  the  life  was 
presented,  and  many  rules  and  suggestions  for  its 
realisation  were  set  forth.  The  work  of  securing 
for  himself  the  realisation  was  left  to  the  man. 

What  could  be  more  essential  to  the  end  to  be 
attained  than  the  one  thing  to  which  the  writer 
refers?  Place  yourself  before  the  ideal  life,  and 
think  of  your  own  relation  to  it.  You  must  see  it 
not  only  once  for  yourself,  and  then  move  on  your 
way.  You  must  look  at  it,  not  as  a  beautiful  thing 
apart  from  yourself,  and  after  a  little  forget  what  it 
is,   and    what  you    are.     It  is    set  before  you   as  a 

236 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

thing  to  be  studied  as  you  study  nothing  else.  It 
is  a  life,  with  its  reahties  and  its  rules.  It  is  a  life 
to  be  passed  into  your  life  through  your  turning 
your  life  into  its  likeness.  Its  rules  are  to  be  fol-  , 
lowed,  not  in  blind  obedience,  but  in  the  freedom 
of  a  love  that  is  inspired  by  love.  It  is  to  be  devel- 
oped on  every  side,  through  all  action  and  feeling, 
from  one  day  to  another.  It  is  to  be  brought  to 
its  completeness  through  the  union  of  your  soul  in 
conscious  fellowship  with  Christ  who  revealed  the 
ideal.  No  chance  looking  can  give  you  the  bless- 
ing. The  man  who  beholds  his  natural  face  in  a 
mirror  may  go  his  way,  and  straightway  forget 
what  manner  of  man  he  was,  and  no  loss  may  be 
suffered  or  growth  of  manhood  be  prevented.  But 
the  beholding  of  the  life  for  the  soul  is  a  different 
matter,  wherein  the  forgetfulness  of  the  manner  of 
man  that  one  is  in  comparison  of  the  true  soul-life 
is  fatal  to  the  great  result  that  is  needed.  The 
thought  must  be  ever  on  what  the  man  is  and  on 
what  the  ideal  would  make  him,  and  so  the  look 
must  be  continuously  and  intently  on  the  word  of 
the  Divine  message  which  is  the  perfect  law. 

The  writer  now  presents  to  us  the  close  relation 
between  the  looking  into  the  law,  after  this  manner, 
and  the  doing  of  it.  His  words  are  striking  words: 
He  that  looketh  into  the  perfect  law  and  so  con- 
tinueth,  ^^?;/^ — as  if,  of  necessity,  in  the  very  nature 
of  the  case  —  not  a  hearer  that  forgetteth,  but  a 
doer  that  worketh.  The  doing,  as  contrasted  with 
hearing  and  then  forgetting,  is  assumed  in  the  very 

237 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

form  of  the  sentence  as  essentially  and  vitally  con- 
nected with  the  intent  and  continuous  looking. 
Christianity,  in  its  teaching  and  its  exhortations, 
rests,  and  fitly  may  rest  upon  this  assumption.  It 
knows  full  well  that  a  man  can  hear  its  message  of 
life,  or  the  proclamation  of  its  demands,  and  can  for 
the  moment  even  be  impressed  in  his  mind,  and  yet 
can  go  away  from  the  hearing  with  no  abiding 
thought  of  the  deep  significance  of  the  word  for 
himself.  He  can  forget  what  he  has  heard,  and 
forget  what  manner  of  man  he  is.  The  beholding 
himself  as  in  a  mirror  is  a  passing  thing,  and  the 
remembrance  of  it  is  lost. 

But  it  knows  also,  and  with  equal  assurance  and 
certainty,  that  if  the  man  can  be  brought  to  study 
the  law  of  life  —  the  law  of  liberty  and  love  for  the 
free  and  freely  developing  life  of  loving  service  — 
as  he  does  who  looks  intently  into  some  place  where 
there  is  hidden  treasure,  or  some  mystery  whose 
solution  is  of  deepest  import,  the  result  will  be  and 
must  be  the  doing  of  what  the  law  asks  for.  Intent- 
ness  of  looking  indicates  and  proves  earnestness 
of  purpose.  When  the  intentness  is  in  the  sphere 
of  character,  the  earnestness  naturally  and  even  of 
necessity  moves  into  effort.  The  man  is  aroused 
to  action  with  reference  to  manhood.  The  knowl- 
edge of  what  manhood  is  impels  at  once  to  working 
for  it.  Thoughtlessness  makes  forgetfulness.  But 
when  the  thoughtlessness  has  given  way  to  thought, 
and  the  chance  looking  to  the  continuous,  serious, 
earnest  looking,  a  new  spirit  takes  control.  The 
hearer  becomes  a  doer ;   and  the  doer,  a  doer  that 

238 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

vvorketh  to  the  attainmentof  an  end  which  is  deemed 
vital  to  the  soul.  This  is  the  way  in  which  genuine 
character  grows  and  develops  itself.  It  is  so  in  every 
department  of  our  living.  Awaken  the  man  to  the 
intent  contemplation  of  the  ideal  in  any  line,  and  to 
the  laws  pertaining  to  it,  and  which  it  imposes,  and 
you  have  begun  the  work  of  the  making  of  the 
man  —  a  work  which  will  surely  move  onward 
towards  completeness,  if  the  awakening  is  contin- 
uous. It  is  true,  most  of  all,  in  the  moral  and  spirit- 
ual sphere,  for  here  is  the  essential  life  of  the  man. 
It  is  to  the  end  of  the  impression  of  the  power  of 
this  ideal  on  the  soul,  as  we  may  believe,  that  Chris- 
tianity, in  its  message,  dwells  so  largely  on  the  per- 
sonality of  Jesus,  and  stirs  men  by  its  every  appeal  to 
look  towards  Him.  To  the  same  end  it  represents 
His  life  everywhere,  according  to  the  reality  of  it, 
as  moving  freely  and  lovingly  under  the  perfect  law 
of  liberty.  Fix  your  thought  upon  Him,  it  says,  as 
a  manly  man  studies  and  thinks  upon  the  ideal  set 
before  him.  Place  your  life  beside  His  in  compar- 
ison with  His.  See  there  and  then,  with  the  seeing 
of  the  inmost  soul,  what  manner  of  man  He  was, 
and  what  you  ought  to  be  and  may  be.  Abide 
there  in  the  soul's  thinking,  as  with  the  ever-con- 
tinuing look  of  intentness.  With  this  word,  it  al- 
most leaves  you  to  yourself  for  all  the  rest,  for  it 
knows  that,  as  you  thus  look,  you  will  cease  to  be  a 
hearer  only  of  the  message,  and  will  become  a  doer 
of  the  law,  fulfilling  its  requirements  and  carry- 
ing the  results  of  your  working  into  character.  If 
it  can  only  move  the  soul  by  its  appeal ;  if  it  can 

239 


V 


V. 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

lead  it  to  put  itself  in  the  right  place  and  the  right 
attitude,  it  trusts  the  future  with  confidence. 

And  then  it  adds  for  the  soul  its  final  word,  of 
assurance  and  promise:  This  man  shall  be  blessed 
in  his  doing.  The  writer  had  learned,  as  he  wrote 
these  words,  the  deep  thought  of  the  Christian 
teaching.  It  is  only  when  we  stand  apart  with  our 
souls  unmoved  by  the  contemplation  of  the  ideal, — 
only  when  we  are  forgetful  hearers,  like  the  one  who 
beholds  his  natural  face  in  a  mirror  and  loses  all 
thought  or  care  as  to  what  he  is,  that  the  law  of 
Christian  living  seems  a  law  of  bondage.  It  mani- 
fests itself  thus  to  our  vision  simply  because  our 
souls  are  not  stirred  to  activity  for  the  soul's  true 
well-being.  But  when  we  look  into  the  law,  and  by 
looking  intently  see  in  it  the  law  of  liberty  and  of 
perfectness  for  the  soul's  life,  and  when  our  looking 
changes,  as  it  were  by  a  wonderful  transformation, 
into  doing  and  working,  a  new  experience  comes  to 
us.  It  is  the  experience  of  the  Christian's  career. 
What  is  it?  It  is  the  experience  not  of  hope  merely, 
but  of  realisation.  The  blessing  is  not  only  a  thing 
which  we  work  for  through  the  earthly  course, 
patiently  waiting  for  it,  while  we  are  ever  attracted 
by  the  lovely  vision  of  it  as  a  future  good.  It  is  a 
present  reality,  known  day  by  day,  and  in  all  the 
years,  which  abides  in  the  doing,  and  pertains  to  it. 
The  law  of  free  service  always  has  such  blessing. 
Its  demands  come  to  us  as  calls  upon  our  love  for  a 
loving  friend.  We  answer  them  by  our  doing  and 
working,  as  the  sweet  privilege  of  life.     We  grow  in 

240 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

love,  in  beautiful  character,  in  happy  consciousness 
of  right  and  blessed  life,  in  assurance  that  the  ideal 
is  forming  itself  in  our  souls,  in  all  that  is  most 
precious  and  delightful  within  ourselves,  as  we  thus 
answer  them.  The  inner  life  of  the  man  becomes 
more  and  more  a  blessing  to  himself,  and  he  moves 
on  toward  and  into  the  future,  knowing  that  greater 
and  better  things  are  awaiting  him  as  he  himself 
becomes  better  and  greater. 

The  Christian  teaching  —  the  word  of  its  mes- 
sage—  the  law  of  its  free,  happy,  grand  life,  is  a 
wonderful  teaching  and  word  and  law.  In  the 
words  of  this  writer  the  summons  comes  to  you  — 
and  how  reasonably  and  fitly  —  to  look  into  it,  and 
to  make  your  lives  conform  to  the  ideal  which  it 
sets  before  you. 


i6 


241 


XVII 

THE   PASSING   OF   LIFE 

For  what  is  your  life  ?    It  is  even  a  vapour  that  appeareth  for 
a  little  time,  atid  then  vanisheth  away.  —  James  iv.  14. 

I  PLACE  this  question  of  the  sacred  writer  at  the 
beginning  of  what  I  would  say  at  this  time  — 
having  it  in  my  thought  to  address  my  words  to  a 
company  of  educated  young  men  in  a  university  — 
not  for  the  purpose  of  unfolding  directly  the  answer 
which  he  gives  to  it,  but  rather  because,  in  connec- 
tion with  that  answer,  it  appears  more  indirectly,  to 
offer  the  opportunity  of  gathering  together  a  few 
thoughts  upon  the  general  subject  of  our  passing 
life.  The  answer  of  the  sacred  writer,  indeed,  when 
regarded  in  itself,  is  one  which  almost  from  the 
necessity  of  the  case  loses  its  force  in  great  measure 
to  the  thought  of  such  a  company.  The  shortness 
of  the  time  appointed  for  us  in  this  world  is  a  sub- 
ject which  can  scarcely  make  a  very  deep  impression 
upon  our  minds  when,  in  the  fulness  of  youthful  and 
manly  vigour,  we  are  just  preparing  for  or  commenc- 
ing our  work  for  ourselves.  The  way  looks  long 
before  us,  as  we  view  it  from  the  starting-point. 
How  can  we  believe  that  we  shall  soon  reach  the 
end?  We  shall  not  reach  the  end  soon.  There  are 
thirty  or  forty  or  fifty  years  before   us, — and  that 

242 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

is  not  soon.  The  man  who  lias  passed  through 
those  fifty  years  may  fitly  say,  if  he  will,  that  life 
vanishes,  for  everything  vanishes  at  last.  But  we 
have  not  passed  through  them.  We  are  at  the 
beginning,  when  all  things  are  beautiful  and  hopeful. 
God  did  not  mean,  surely,  that  we  should  call  life  a 
vapour,  and  we  cannot  do  so,  at  least  till  the  realisa- 
tion of  the  future  has  taught  us  the  lesson  which,  as 
yet,  we  do  not  more  than  half  believe  it  has  to 
teach  us. 

Such,  in  substance,  is  what  every  young  man  says 
to  himself,  and  what  the  members  of  every  company 
of  youthful  friends  say  to  each  other,  when  their 
thoughts  are  arrested  for  the  moment  by  this  ques- 
tion of  life.  The  ending  and  the  beginning  do 
not  easily  meet  together.  There  are,  however,  some 
things  so  closely  connected  with  that  constant  pass- 
ing away  of  the  years  which  is  to  every  reflecting 
mind  an  appreciated  fact,  that  we  may  urge  them 
upon  those  who  look  forward,  as  well  as  upon  those 
who  look  backward.  If  not  all  within  the  realm  of 
experience  to-day,  they  are,  at  least,  pressing  upon 
us  from  the  immediate  future,  and  must  be  allowed 
their  influence  upon  our  minds  even  now,  if  we  are 
to  guide  our  course  by  great  principles  or  by  the 
great  truths  of  our  being. 

Let  me  ask  you,  then,  to  call  to  your  thought  the  , 
fact,  that  life  is  always  passing  out  of  the  present  into 
the  future.     In  one  sense,  life  is  wholly  within  the 
present,  for  the  future  is  uncertain,  and  the  past  is 
gone  from  us.     It  is  what  we  have  and  enjoy  and 

243 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

are,  at  this  hour,  that  makes  up  our  existence.  We 
may  have  been  anything  in  the  time  gone  by,  and  it 
matters  not,  except  as  the  results  of  that  former  time 
have  worked  out  our  present  character  and  con- 
dition, or  as  memory  has  brought  into  the  present 
the  joy  or  sorrow  which  it  then  gathered  into  itself; 
while,  as  for  to-morrow,  it  is  an  unknown  season, 
which  can  never  be  ours  until  it  is  no  longer  to-mor- 
row, but  to-day.  This  is  the  view  of  life  which  lin- 
gers with  us,  in  general,  through  all  the  earlier  period 
of  our  career ;  and  it  is  for  us  all  one  of  the  kindnesses 
of  the  Providential  ordering,  that  the  preparatory 
season  does  thus  seem  to  limit  itself  to  itself,  so  that 
no  anxiety  or  fear  mingles  with  the  gladness  of  life's 
morning. 

But  this  is  not  the  truest  view,  nor  is  it  the  one 
which  can  abide  the  progress  of  time  and  the  changes 
of  the  world.  You  come,  my  friend,  to  the  hour 
when  all  the  preparation  is  completed,  —  when  the 
implements  of  your  service  have  been  given  you, 
and  you  are  bidden  to  go  forth  and  do  your 
appointed  work ;  —  and  then,  the  present  begins  to 
seem  to  you  almost  as  nothing.  It  is  but  a  moment. 
It  vanishes  away  into  the  future.  You  think  of  it 
only  as  it  helps  you  onward  towards  that  future,  to 
which  all  your  labours  and  hopes  are  pointing;  in 
which  your  life  centres  and  has  its  being. 

And  thus  it  will  be,  more  and  more,  just  accord- 
ing to  the  nobleness  of  your  aims  or  the  largeness  of 
your  desires  and  plans.  While  you  see  the  days 
running  by  you  with  so  little  done,  and  yet  the  work 
opening  more  widely  before  you  with  so  much  to 

244 


THE  IN'NER  LIFE 

do  —  the  attainments  and  progress  already  made 
appearing  to  your  thought  the  smaller,  just  in  pro- 
portion, perchance,  as  they  appear  to  others,  or 
even  are  in  reality,  the  greater  —  you  will  be  always 
pressing  on,  laying  hold  upon  the  things  before,  and 
finding  yourself,  in  your  dissatisfaction  with  the  pres- 
ent, waiting  most  impatiently  for  that  coming  period 
which,  in  its  turn,  must  lengthen  and  enlarge  itself 
continually  in  order  to  fill  the  deep  wants  of  your  soul. 
The  mind,  in  this  way,  alters  its  judgment  of  things 
completely  as  it  comes  to  its  mature  reflection,  and 
it  is  compelled  to  do  so,  because  it  sees  that  each 
to-day  is  only  the  time  of  fitting  itself  for  each 
to-morrow,  —  the  season  of  toil  or  warfare,  while  life 
passes  out  of  this  into  the  season  of  rest  or  victory. 
But  if  all  this  is  true,  there  is  nothing  necessarily 
of  the  brevity  of  life  in  it,  nor  is  there  anything 
which  it  is  unnatural  for  us  to  think  of  when  all  is 
hopeful.  There  is,  however,  a  suggestion  that  may 
have  an  all-important  bearing  upon  our  course  of 
action  in  the  world.  Life  is  vanishing  out  of  the 
present  into  the  future  now,  and  it  always  will  be. 
What  is  the  lesson?  Is  it  not,  that  the  future  is  the  -, 
most  certain  and  real  part  of  our  existence?  Is  it 
not,  that  the  work  of  the  soul  for  itself  within  the 
present  is  never  accomplished,  except  as  it  takes 
hold  upon  the  future  and  prepares  for  it?  Surely, 
it  would  seem  that  this  cannot  be  denied,  for  it  is 
the  very  principle  on  which  men  are  working  every- 
where around  us  —  only  that  they  limit  their  vision. 
You,  my  friend,  for  example,  use  all  your  energy 
willingly  in  your  chosen  life's  work,  with  no  thought 

245 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

of  a  full  reward  until  perhaps  the  last  ten  years  of 
the  forty  or  fifty,  to  which  you  look  forward,  shall 
have  begun ;  and  if  some  one  tells  you  that  those 
years  may  never  come,  you  give  no  heed  to  what  he 
says  — you  do  not  even  half  believe  in  the  possibility 
of  its  truth  —  because  you  know  that  your  highest  and 
best  life  is  not  here,  but  there.  You  are  preparing 
for  something  in  the  distance  before  you,  and  you 
will  not,  for  a  moment,  hinder  your  labours  by  ad- 
mitting the  thought  that  you  may  die  before  you 
reach  it. 

And  as  it  seems  to  me,  you  are  in  one  sense, 
perhaps  in  the  highest  sense,  right  in  this.  Your 
mistake  is  not  so  much  in  thinking  that  you  have  so 
many  years  awaiting  you,  as  it  is  in  thinking  that 
you  have  so  few.  It  is  not  so  much  in  forgetting 
your  liability  to  fall  in  death  before  the  way  is  half- 
accomplished,  as  it  is  in  suffering  yourself  to  imagine 
that  death,  whenever  it  comes,  is  anything  more  than 
a  point  in  your  history  —  an  event  which  changes, 
indeed,  the  sphere,  but  not  the  fact,  nor  the  greatest 
wants,  of  your  existence. 

We  grant  you,  then,  the  longest  life  —  the  whole 
of  the  half-century,  even,  that  lies  between  you  and 
the  appointed  boundary.  We  grant  you  that  it  is  a 
long  period,  even  as  it  seems  to  yourself.  But  that 
is  not  all  the  future,  nor  all  your  future.  There  are 
years  beyond  that.  You  are  just  as  sure  of  sixty 
years  or  of  a  hundred,  as  you  are  of  fifty ;  and  you 
are  absolutely  certain  of  both.  At  some  time  within 
the  hundred  years,  your  sphere  of  activity  will 
change.     But   that   will    not    make    the   time    that 

246 


THE  IiVNEk  LIFE 

follows  of  less  value  to  you  —  far  from  It  Rather, 
as  to-morrow  is  more  real  and  valuable  than  to-day, 
so  the  later  period  must  ever  rise  to  the  rightly- 
thinking  mind,  into  an  importance  which  vastly  out- 
weighs the  possibilities  of  the  earlier  one.  This  is 
the  law  of  our  being;  a  law  which  no  reasonable 
man  among  us  ever  thinks  of  disregarding  in  his 
plan  of  living  for  this  world,  and  a  law  which  it  is  no 
more  reasonable  to  disregard  for  any  part  of  the 
future,  so  long  as,  whatever  may  be  its  dwelling- 
place,  the  soul  remains  itself. 

I  am  speaking  now,  especially,  of  what  you  are 
doing  for  yourself,  my  friend.  Why  direct  every- 
thing with  so  much  care  —  why,  as  you  are  just 
passing  forth  into  life,  lay  every  plan,  as  you  are 
doing,  with  so  much  thoughtfulness  and  so  bright 
visions  of  hope,  with  reference  to  the  ten  or  twenty 
years  which  shall  close  the  nexthalf-century  of  your 
existence,  and  then  give  not  a  moment's  reflection, 
or  the  smallest  part  of  your  wisdom,  to  the  ten  or 
twenty  years  that  begin  the  following  half-century  ? 
And  this  is  all  the  difference  between  the  two 
periods,  when  we  consider  the  subject  as  we  ought. 
Life  is  not  going  to  contradict  itself,  when  you  are 
sixty  years  of  age.  It  is  not  going  to  bring  in  the 
fulness  of  success  then,  and  so  remain  a  harvest- 
time  of  joy  for  you  until  it  suddenly  ceases  at 
seventy.  No :  —  it  will  be  passing  out  of  the 
present  into  the  future  then,  as  truly  and  as  con- 
stantly as  it  docs  now.  Otherwise,  it  is  nothing  but 
a  mockery.  Otherwise,  our  largest  desires  and  hopes 
and    aspirations    arc    to    meet  disappointment,  and 

247 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

disappointment  only.     God  cannot  thus  deceive  the 
nature  that  He  has  Himself  made. 

The  Gospel  comes  to  us  at  this  hour,  then,  and 
here  is  its  first  message :  —  Be  ready,  at  every  mo- 
ment, for  the  future,  and  think  of  the  remoter  future, 
as  well  as  the  nearer  one.  It  tells  us  also,  that,  in 
view  of  our  present  thought,  death  is  nothing ;  — 
and  as  the  man  who  labours  with  no  care  reaching 
beyond  the  night  that  closes  these  daylight  hours 
is  degrading  his  humanity  to  the  level  of  the  beasts 
that  perish,  so  every  one  who  limits  his  preparation 
for  the  future  by  the  bounds  of  threescore  years  and 
ten,  because,  forsooth,  the  darkness  of  death  is  full 
of  doubt  or  mystery,  is  forgetful  of  his  soul's  high- 
est welfare  and  of  the  glorious  birthright  of  his 
immortality. 

Let  me  ask  you  to  call  to  your  thought,  again, 
%  the  fact  that  life  is  always  passing  out  of  the  seen 
into  the  unseen.  To  the  young  child  there  is  noth- 
ing, as  it  were,  beyond  what  is  seen.  He  lives 
among  outward  things,  and  fulfils  the  divine  ap- 
pointment in  that  he  does  do.  But  there  is  another 
destiny  for  those  who  have  already  begun  the  labours 
of  their  career  in  the  world.  They  also  are  in  the 
midst  of  outward  things,  but  these  are  growing — ■ 
gradually,  it  may  be,  but  yet  constantly —  less  and 
less  to  be  their  life.  I  do  not  mean  that  multitudes 
of  persons  may  not  go  on  from  the  commencement 
of  their  course  to  its  close  almost  like  children  in 
this  regard,  or  that  multitudes  more  may  not  fail 
ever  to  look  so  earnestly  at  those  things  which  in 

248 


THE   INNER   LIFE 

the  Scriptures  are  called  unseen,  as  to  lay  hold  upon 
the  eternal  blessings.  But  I  speak  of  the  tendency 
—  of  the  great  fact  alone,  which  is  realised,  in 
greater  or  less  degree,  in  the  experience  of  all 
thoughtful  persons  as  they  move  onward  in  their 
course.  The  opening  of  mature  years  brings  with 
it  the  necessity  of  working  and  the  burden  of  re- 
sponsibility. A  man  is  obliged  to  force  his  way 
into  the  great  company  who  are  carrying  forward 
the  world's  affairs,  and  to  achieve  for  himself  success 
in  his  chosen  line.  The  carelessness  of  the  past  is 
over  now,  while  the  reality  of  the  present  and  the 
future  breaks  in  more  and  more  impressively  upon 
the  soul.  Now  there  is  something  in  this  very  work 
of  life  which  drives  one  in  upon  himself,  to  com- 
mune there  with  all  that  he  knows  of  the  spiritual 
world.  Your  work,  my  brother,  does  not  merely  go 
from  yourself  outward  and  thus  terminate  upon  it- 
self; but  it  returns  from  without  inward  also,  so  that 
you  are  growing  up  in  your  own  inner  life  con- 
tinually by  means  of  all  that  you  are  doing.  And 
to  your  serious  thought,  this  will  ever  be  the  truest, 
greatest  result  of  your  working,  so  far  as  you  are 
concerned  in  yourself  alone.  Yes,  you  may  enter 
on  your  career  with  whatever  plans  you  please  — 
with  all  your  efforts  directed  towards  the  attainment 
of  reputation,  or  wealth,  or  any  of  the  thousand  ob- 
jects of  human  desire  that  are  at  all  worthy  of  an  in- 
telligent man,  —  and  in  the  earnest  pursuit  of  these, 
you  may  throw  yourself  purposely  into  the  midst  of 
external  things,  into  the  hurry  and  business  of  the 
world  around  you ;   but  you  cannot  escape  the  ef- 

249 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

feet  of  whieh  I  am  speaking.  There  will  be  hours 
—  now  and  then  at  least,  if  not  always  —  when  you 
will  realise  it.  Life  —  whether  we  will  it  or  not  — 
becomes  sober.  Life  becomes  thoughtful.  Life,  if 
I  may  so  say,  becomes  self-contemplative,  very 
rapidly,  as  we  go  on  in  it ;  and  if  you  have  any  life 
that  is  deserving  of  the  name  at  all  —  so  that  you 
are  not  a  mere  pleasure-hunter,  or  liver  for  the  day 
only — you  will  see  that  your  work  is  most  unreal 
in  itself,  and  most  real  in  its  influence  within  you. 
But  the  time  will  only  suffer  me  thus  to  hint  at 
this  thought.  It  will  impress  itself  more  deeply 
upon  us  when  we  think  of  the  responsibility  and 
anxiety  of  life's  work.  The  continual  demand  that 
is  made  upon  the  soul  for  fortitude  and  energy —  no 
matter  what  may  be  the  dangers,  or  disappointments, 
or  defeats,  which  are  met  with  in  the  struggle  of  the 
world  —  will  force  every  man,  even  the  strongest 
hearted,  to  retire  often  and  look  after  the  sources  of 
new  power.  As  such  a  man  first  becomes  per- 
suaded of  his  own  weakness,  indeed,  he  may  begin 
to  search  for  these  sources  without  himself,  among 
the  fellow-workers  around  him.  But  the  search  will 
soon  cease ;  or,  if  it  be  resumed  from  time  to  time, 
as  the  delusion  of  our  life  lingers  with  him,  it  will 
show  itself  to  be  fruitless  where  the  deepest  wants 
of  the  soul  need  to  be  supplied.  No  one  human 
mind  can  ever  fully  enter  into  the  experience  of 
another,  and  the  truth,  that  it  cannot,  men  learn 
more  thoroughly  as  the  years  move  forward.  What 
remains  for  the  man  then,  but  to  go  within  himself? 
And  when  he  has  gone  within,  what  remains  for  him 

250 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

there?  Nothing,  but  cither  to  strive  to  gather  up 
his  own  energies  anew,  which  have  already  failed 
him  once,  or  many  times,  or  to  turn  toward  the 
powers  of  the  spiritual  realm.  Let  him,  now,  take 
whichever  of  these  two  courses  he  will,  life  has  com- 
pelled him,  in  the  hour  of  his  greatest  emergency, 
to  abandon  the  external  altogether.  Life  has  passed, 
for  that  hour  at  least,  from  the  seen  to  the  unseen. 

But  with  the  earnest  and  thoughtful  soul,  which  is 
faithful  to  itself,  the  effort  will  not  always  be — no, 
it  will  be  less  and  less  —  to  waken  up  its  own  un- 
aided strength,  as  its  only  resource.  It  will  realise 
that  its  need  is  of  a  new  power,  higher  than  its  own, 
and  therefore  it  will  try  to  hold  communion  with 
that  which  rules  in  the  unseen  world,  and  to  search 
more  deeply  into  the  knowledge  of  that  world,  until 
it  comes  to  feel  and  know  that  its  own  real  existence 
is  there.  I  do  not  say,  let  me  repeat  again,  that  all 
this  is  true,  in  its  fulness,  in  the  case  of  every  mind. 
The  blindness  and  sluggishness  and  passions  of  our 
humanity  keep  many  from  the  truth  forever.  But  I 
do  say  that  such  is  the  tendency  —  such  is  the  les- 
son of  the  years —  and  you  and  I  will  be  learning 
the  lesson  as  we  go  forward  towards  the  end,  even 
though  we  may  die,  perchance,  long  before  we  have 
learned  it  thoroughly  or  received  the  richness  of  its 
Divine  gift  to  the  soul. 

It  is  a  universal  fact,  also,  that  we  do  not  move  far 
beyond  the  opening  of  mature  life,  before  we  are 
called  to  endure  the  separations  and  sorrows  of 
this  world.  The  joyousness  with  which  even  the 
lightest-hearted  among  you,  my  young  friends,  may 

251 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

enter  on  the  ten  years  immediately  before  you  — 
strong  as  you  are  in  the  confidence  of  warm  friend- 
ships, and  filled  as  you  are  with  the  bright  vision  of 
the  future  —  will  find  itself,  surely  it  will,  over- 
clouded somewhat,  before  the  ten  years  are  ended. 
It  is  better,  no  doubt,  not  to  think  about  it  much,  as 
yet.  It  will  be  time  enough  for  that,  when  it  comes. 
But,  even  now,  I  ask  you  to  bear  it  in  mind  that,  when 
it  does  come,  you  will  know  the  fact  within  yourself. 
If  you  are  called,  for  example,  a  few  years  hence  to 
separate  from  one  of  your  tried  friends,  as  he  is 
summoned  into  the  eternal  world,  you  will  find  that 
a  part  of  your  life  is  gone  with  him  ;  and,  if  you  are 
to  each  other  what  you  think  you  are  to-day,  that 
part  of  your  life  will  never  return  from  that  world, 
any  more  than  he  will.  It  will  have  passed,  once  for 
all,  from  the  seen  to  the  unseen.  Or  if,  in  your  per- 
sonal experience,  you  find  the  struggle  of  the  world, 
even  in  its  beginnings,  harder  for  you  than  you  had 
pictured  it  in  your  happy  dreamings,  or  bearing 
with  itself  a  suggestion,  or  perchance  a  threatening, 
of  possible  failure  as  to  your  largest  hopes,  a  similar 
lesson  will  come  to  you  —  only  it  will  be  a  lesson, 
not  from  the  region  of  the  unseen  into  which  an- 
other has  entered,  but  from  that  unseen  region 
where  the  deepest  thoughts  and  the  central  life  of 
your  own  manhood  have  their  abiding-place. 

But  not  only  with  sorrows  or  trials  like  these ;  so 
it  is  with  every  separation,  with  every  disappoint- 
ment, with  everything  that  brings  on  darkness 
instead  of  light.  There  is  a  sort  of  distinct  and 
independent   life    in   these   things,  which    runs    on 

252 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

parallel  with  our  outward  work.  The  world  knows 
nothing  of  it.  It  is  wholly  of  and  within  our  souls, 
and  it  makes  us  leave  the  outward  behind  us, 
because  it  leaves  the  outward  behind  itself. 

The  very  advancing  years,  also,  tell  the  same 
story  for  themselves,  because  they  are  bearing  us 
continually  nearer  to  the  unseen  world.  Life  may 
not  be  brief  to  you  now,  because  you  have  fifty 
years  before  you ;  but  it  will  begin  to  grow  briefer 
to  your  view  after  a  little  while,  and  just  in  propor- 
tion as  it  does  so,  will  be  the  impressiveness  of  the 
thought  that  the  unseen  life  is  the  real  one.  I  do 
not  ask  you  to  realise  this  fully  now — but  the 
Gospel  message  to  you,  as  you  form  your  plans  of 
living  and  go  forth  into  the  world,  is :  Do  not 
deceive  yourself  with  regard  to  the  future :  it  no 
more  constantly  brings  the  unseen  into  the  seen, 
than  it  bears  the  seen  into  the  unseen. 

In  presenting  the  subject  thus  far,  I  have  been 
led  to  allude  to  our  active  work  in  its  bear- 
ing upon  ourselves.  Let  me  now  ask  you  once 
more  —  my  final  thought — to  call  to  your  remem- 
brance that,  so  far  as  our  work  in  other  respects  is 
concerned,  life  is  always  passing  out  of  self  into  t]ie 
world.  There  is  a  deception  which  we  all  practise 
upon  ourselves,  in  this  regard.  Not  only  at  the 
outset  of  our  career,  but  long  afterward,  we  per- 
suade our  souls  that  the  work  which  we  have  under- 
taken has  a  completeness  in  itself;  and  we  press  on 
with  all  earnestness,  as  if  the  whole  of  it  centred  in 
the  few  years  of  our  sojourning  on  earth.     But  if 

253 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

our  life  is  good  for  anything,  — not  given  to  mere 
personal  enjoyment, — this  is  very  far  from  being 
the  fact.  When  we  think  of  it  rightly,  you  and  I 
have  not  commenced  anything,  nor  shall  we  finish 
anything.  No,  we  simply  take  up  an  unfinished 
work,  which  some  one  else  who  went  before  us  left 
for  us  to  do  and,  after  a  season,  we  shall  leave  it, 
still  unfinished,  for  some  one  else  to  take  up  anew, 
who  shall  follow  after  us.     That  is  all. 

I  may  draw  an  illustration  from  the  place  in 
which  we  are  educated.  The  person  who  finds  his 
appointed  sphere  for  a  life-work  in  a  University 
may  be  said  to  have  two  great  things  —  at  least, 
among  others  —  assigned  to  him  to  do  :  —  namely, 
to  maintain,  in  common  with  those  around  him,  the 
life  of  the  institution,  and  to  make  all  possible  pro- 
gress in  the  department  of  learning  to  which  he 
devotes  himself.  Now,  in  the  former  of  these  two 
things,  he  may  find  every  day  requiring  new  efforts 
or  bringing  new  cares;  he  may  become  absorbed  in 
devotion  to  his  work,  and  may  go  on  with  ever- 
increasing  energy  and  enthusiasm  to  the  latest  hour. 
But,  as  he  passes  away  from  his  individual  earthly 
life,  the  life  of  the  University  moves  steadily  on 
beyond  him.  His  work  enters  into  its  future,  and 
mingles  there  with  what  went  before  and  what  fol- 
lows after,  until  its  relation  to  him  may  be  alto- 
gether lost  sight  of,  and  forgotten.  Thus  it  is,  also, 
with  the  other  portion  of  his  duty,  —  even  more 
clearly  still,  if  that  be  possible.  What  has  he  done 
there,  but  advance  his  own  science  beyond  the  point 
where  he  received  it,  so  that  he  opens  to  the  future 

254 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

generation  a  wider  vision  and  a  larger  field  ?  So  far 
from  a  completeness  within  his  lifetime,  it  had  its 
beginning  centuries  ago,  perchance,  and  may  endure 
for  centuries  upon  centuries  to  come. 

We,  however,  are  but  an  example  of  mankind 
around  us.  The  truth  about  our  living  is  the  truth 
about  all  living.  The  life  of  each  individual  may,  in 
some  sense,  have  a  completeness ;  but  surely  it  is 
not  in  its  work.  The  work  has  no  completeness. 
It  has,  in  the  light  in  which  we  view  it  at  this 
moment,  no  meaning,  except  as  it  finds  its  way  out 
of  self  into  the  world,  and  not  only  this,  but  into 
the  world  of  the  future. 

The  great  law  of  self-sacrifice  is  dependent,  in  large 
measure,  upon  this  fact.  You  cannot  think  rightly  of 
the  heroic  sacrifices  made  in  a  great  struggle  for 
freedom,  or  in  the  work  of  a  missionary  to  the 
heathen,  or  in  any  of  the  grander  movements  of  the 
world  in  which  those  who  have  the  most  of  life 
before  them  are  called  upon  to  give  up  that  life 
most  readily,  except  as  you  think  of  them  thus. 
But  when  you  thus  think  of  them,  the  mystery  is 
solved.  The  soldier  may  fall  in  his  first  battle,  or 
the  missionary  in  his  first  year  of  service,  and  yet 
not  have  thrown  himself  away  for  nothing.  His 
life's  work  has  ended  just  where  it  must  have  ended, 
had  he  been  permitted  to  see  the  final  success  of 
his  efforts.  It  has  passed  out  of  himself  into  the 
world. 

And  so  everywhere,  whether  there  be  a  voluntary 
offering  like  this  or  not.  The  friend  beside  you, 
whom  you  have  known  and  loved  with  the  ardour  of 

255 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

a  youthful  affection,  may  pass  away  just  as  he  sees 
the  world  opening  before  him  and  with  the  dis- 
appointment of  every  cherished  hope,  while  you 
may  linger  on  until  the  farthest  limit  of  age  is 
reached,  realising  all  the  visions  that  are  now  so 
beautiful  to  your  soul.  But  your  life  —  so  widely 
different,  as  it  seems,  from  his  —  is  like  his,  in 
reality.  You  have  gained  nothing  by  your  length- 
ened course,  as  we  may  almost  say;  for  the  ques- 
tion of  sooner  or  later  becomes  an  idle  one,  as 
you  remember  that  the  work  of  both  takes  hold 
upon  the  future,  and  abides  there  —  as  you  re- 
member that  his  work  and  yours  may  even  unite 
together  again,  as  they  both  move  on  beyond  you 
into  the  coming  age  and  form  together,  in  some 
mysterious  way,  a  portion  of  the  world's  inheritance. 

The  Gospel  takes  this  closing  thought,  my  friend, 
and  says  to  you :  Be  as  earnest  and  hopeful  as 
you  can  be  in  all  your  work ;  but  remember  that  it 
passes  on  in  this  world  while  you  go  to  another,  and 
that,  when  your  earthly  life  has  thus  vanished  away, 
you  will  remain. 

But  if  this  is  so,  here  is  one  of  the  most  vital  and 
infinitely  momentous  truths  of  existence  to  all,  and 
especially  to  those  who  are  just  forming  their  plans 
for  the  future.  This  thought  may  work  backward 
in  its  influence,  also,  upon  the  two  which  have  pre- 
ceded it;  for  if  your  life  is  so  passing  away  from 
yourself  that  what  you  are  doing  now  finds  its  perfec- 
tion only  in  later  times,  then  the  varied  influences 
of  your  work  in  the  unseen  region  of  your  soul  are 
the  only  thing  of  importance  connected  with  it,  so  far 

256 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

as  you  alone  are  concerned  —  and  the  growth  of 
your  character  and  interior  being  rises,  of  necessity, 
into  the  highest  consequence.  And  again,  if  your 
work  is  leaving  your  hands  as  it  were  continually, 
and  is  to  leave  them  altogether  at  death,  to  belong 
thereafter  to  the  world  only,  not  to  you  —  then  the 
years  that  follow  the  termination  of  your  earthly 
course  are  worthy  of  your  thought  beyond  all  meas- 
ure more  than  any  of  those  which  precede  it,  for  then 
you  are  entering  on  a  new  stage  of  your  existence, 
when  all  things  may  depend  on  what  you  are. 


17  257 


XVIII 

THE   THINGS   THAT   REMAIN 
The  things  that  remain.  —  Revelation  iii.  2. 

THESE  four  words  were  written  by  the  author 
of  the  book  from  which  they  are  taken 
with  a  special  reference  to  thoughts  or  visions 
which  were  given  to  him.  I  venture  to  use  them 
simply  for  what  they  are  in  themselves.  We 
who  belong  to  this  peculiar  community  have 
reached  within  these  now  passing  days  the  last 
brief  section  of  our  academic  year.  A  large  com- 
pany included  in  our  number  have  come  not  only 
to  the  ending  of  this  single  year,  but  to  the  closing 
period  of  all  the  years  in  which  they  can  know  this 
place  as  the  home  of  their  united  life.  The  final 
hour  lingers  a  little  while,  yet  it  so  manifestly  draws 
near  that  it  bears  witness  impressively  of  itself.  It 
comes,  as  it  were,  out  of  the  distance  and  darkness 
in  which  it  has  been  so  long  hiding,  and  sends 
forth,  just  before  itself,  its  word  of  seriousness  for 
every  one.  While  it  lingers,  the  days  have  new 
meaning  and  new  thought  in  them.  They  are  quiet 
days,  in  the  brightest  and  happiest  part  of  the  year. 
But  they  are,  because  of  their  nearness  to  the  end, 
full  of  tenderness  and  suggestiveness,  full  of  remem- 
brance and  of  hope,  full  of  earnest  movement  of  the 

258 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

soul,  both  inward  and  outward.  They  set  the  mind 
upon  thinking  in  a  way  in  which  it  has  not  thought 
before.  They  ask  the  man  where  he  is,  and  what 
he  is,  in  his  inmost  self;  and,  as  they  wait  for  his 
answer,  they  point  forward. 

It  is  to  those  especially,  who  are  nearest  to-day 
to  the  final  ending  of  the  pleasant  life  here,  that 
I  would  say  a  few  words  appropriate  to  the  hour 
and  the  season — words  which  will  also  have  their 
application,  though  in  less  measure  it  may  be,  to 
all.  The  days,  upon  which  these  are  now  enter- 
ing and  which  will  so  soon  be  past,  may  well 
suggest  to  them,  I  am  sure,  the  thought  of  the 
things  that  remain.  You  stand  to-day,  my  friends, 
at  the  last  dividing-point  of  the  course.  Questions 
of  your  personal  life  must  arise  in  your  minds,  at 
such  a  time.  The  questions  above  all  others  in 
which  your  manliest  interest  centres  must  be,  What 
has  passed  away  for  us?  —  for  each  one  of  you, 
What  has  passed  away  for  me,  —  and  Wliat  re- 
mains ?  and  the  second  of  these  two  questions  can- 
not but  appear  to  your  deepest  thought  the  most 
vital  one  for  yourselves. 

The  first  thing  that  remains  for  you  is  the  time 
before  the  end  ;  which  is  indeed,  very  full  of  signifi- 
cance. In  this  matter  there  is  found  one  of  the 
marvellous  kindnesses  of  God  to  us  in  this  world 
—  one  of  the  proofs  that  He  is  a  loving  Father. 

There  seems  to  be  so  much  time  when  we  begin 
life,  or  when  we  begin  anything  that  is  of  what  we 
call  long  continuance,  that  we  waste  it  as  if  it  were 

259 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

valueless,  or  even  misuse  it  to  unworthy  ends.  The 
days  and  years  pass  on  rapidly  —  flying  by  us,  and 
beyond  us,  as  if  with  wings ;  —  but  they  come,  as 
they  go,  and  we  think  of  the  coming,  not  of  the 
going.  To-morrow  will  answer  the  purpose  of  to- 
day, and  we  may  wait  for  it.  Or  it  will,  at  least, 
give  us  the  hours  wherein  the  half-work  of  to-day 
may  be  made  complete.  We  may,  therefore,  leave 
to-day's  work  half-accomplished.  So  we  live  on. 
We  live  as  children,  thoughtless  of  the  present  and 
trustful  of  the  future.  Or,  with  more  heroic  and 
manly  spirit,  we  resolve,  at  the  beginning,  with 
a  great  resolve.  The  years  shall  realise  wonder- 
fully rich  results  for  us  in  whatever  we  undertake. 
We  will  be  more,  and  do  more,  than  the  idle  multi- 
tude around  us.  We  will  be  and  do  what  is  worthy 
of  ourselves.  But  the  resolution  meets  with  weak- 
ness and  hindrance  as  the  time  moves  forward. 
The  man's  power  is  not  what  he  thought  it  was. 
The  end  does  not  answer  to  the  beginning.  The 
hope  changes  to  disappointment,  and  the  years  are 
gone.  From  whatever  cause,  when  we  come  to  a 
turning-point  and  look  backward,  we  find  that 
partial  failure  has  befallen  us.  The  past  has  not 
been  what  it  might  have  been,  or  what  we  our- 
selves once  hoped  it  would  be  when  it  came  to  its 
ending. 

This  is  oitr  side  of  the  matter,  and  it  is  a  hard 
thing  for  us  all  when  we  think  of  it  soberly.  Look 
at  the  subject  for  yourselves,  my  friends.  You  who 
are  drawing  near  the  end  here  at  this  time,  cannot 
help  thinking  in  these  passing  days.     You  who  are 

260 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

closing  the  first  year  here,  or  the  last,  must  find 
the  impulse  to  reflection  moving  you  because 
of  this  fact.  Do  you  not  discover  for  yourselves 
the  common  experience?  The  college  life  has  not 
brought  you  all  the  results  that  you  hoped  for, 
or  all  that  it  might  have  brought.  There  is  a  loss 
out  of  ih.Q  platis  and  purpose  when  the  achievement 
is  measured.  The  time  has  failed  of  its  fruits —  not 
all  of  them,  indeed  —  life  is  not  all  waste  or  disap- 
pointment; but  much  of  good  is  for  every  one,  to- 
day, among,  and  only  among,  the  things  that  might 
have  been.  It  is  not  a  pleasant  thought  to  you  or 
to  me  —  this  one  of  the  failures ;  it  is  full  of  sadness. 
But  it  comes  to  us  all  in  the  quiet  meditative  days 
before  the  ending  of  the  old  years  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  new  ones.  This  is  our  side  of  the 
matter. 

But  it  is  not  the  Divine  Father^s  side.  His 
thought,  with  which  He  comes  to  us  as  with  inspira- 
tion and  impulse,  is,  The  quiet  days  are  of  the 
things  that  yet  remaiit.  They  centre  life  in  them- 
selves. They  have  within  them  the  time  that  is  all- 
sufiicient.  Not  all-sufficient  indeed  to  do  the  work 
which  might  have  filled  the  long  years  that  are 
gone.  They  have  not  hours  enough  for  this ;  and 
the  work,  if  ever  done,  must  wait  for  some  new  stage 
of  life  for  its  accomplishment.  But  all-sufficient  for 
the  making  of  the  man  with  reference  to  the  present 
and  the  future.  The  making  of  the  man  did  not 
pass  away,  in  its  possibility,  with  the  failure  of  the 
work.  It  did  not  require  the  years  for  its  beginning 
and  its  security,  though  it  did  for  its  early  perfectness. 

261 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

Its  beginning  may  come  now;  and  as  it  comes,  the 
truest  life  of  the  man  will  be  secure.  The  ivork  also 
will  follow  the  manhood —  not  as  easily,  not  as 
rapidly,  not  as  perfectly  as  it  might  have  done,  had 
all  been  right  from  the  outset;  but  it  will  follow 
beautifully  notwithstanding.  This  is  the  Divine  side 
of  the  matter.  The  thought  is  of  present  possibility, 
and  thus  of  encouragement.  The  thought  is  of  the 
days  that  remain,  not  of  the  days  that  are  past. 
The  thought  is  of  promise  and  hope,  not  of  hope- 
less loss  ;  —  and  the  summons  which  comes  with  the 
thought,  is  the  summons  to  duty  and  manhood,  in 
the  time  that  remains,  as  inspired  by  the  promise, 
and  cheered  by  the  Jiopc.  Let  the  deep  sense  of  the 
past  failure  turn  itself  into  a  quickening  power  for 
the  coming  time,  and  let  the  man  hear  the  twofold 
voice  of  the  past  and  future  as  a  single  call  to  man- 
hood. 

The  thought  which  has  just  been  presented  sug- 
gests easily,  as  a  second  thing  that  remains,  the 
power  of  new  resolve.  This,  in  the  movement  of 
the  soul,  is  the  starting-point  of  manhood.  The 
power  lingers  for  all  with  the  time,  and  gathers 
itself  up  in  its  full  energy  within  the  time.  In  the 
case  of  some  men  in  every  community,  the  newness 
of  the  resolve  must  be  entire,  if  truest  manhood  is 
to  follow.  The  old  purpose  has  been  wholly  wrong; 
or  the  life  thus  far  has  been  aimless,  drifting  along 
and  away  with  the  chances  of  the  passing  days. 
In  a  company  such  as  that  to  which  we  belong,  the 
latter  experience  is  more  often  realised.     There  are 

262 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

persons  here  perchance,  from  time  to  time,  who 
come  hither,  or  abide  in  this  place,  with  their  will- 
power definitely  and  consciously  set  towards  evil  — 
the  determination  being,  that  the  life  shall  be  given 
to  it.  But  if  they  ever  appear  among  us,  the  bless- 
ing of  the  place  is,  that  they  appear  as  aliens  to  the 
commonwealth.  Their  soul-movement  is  not  the 
soul-movement  of  the  community.  They  belong 
elsewhere,  and  are  not  recognised  as  of  the  citizen- 
ship. Our  oftentimes  occurring  experience,  rather, 
is  that  we  treat  life  as  we  treat  the  days.  We  enjoy 
it,  as  we  enjoy  them ;  but,  as  for  the  great  purpose 
which  is  to  govern  it  and  truly  create  it,  we  defer 
this  until  the  future,  or  form  it  only  in  some  part  of 
its  force.  This  fault  is  not  like  the  other.  It  is  not 
the  man' s  devotion  of  himself  to  wrong-doing  with 
the  energy  of  a  hardened  nature ;  but  the  tveakness 
oi youth,  which  fails  to  think  of  what  is  not  within  its 
immediate  vision,  and  contents  itself  with  what  is 
thus  near  and  around  it.  The  weakness  of  youth,  it 
is  called.  It  is  one,  however,  in  which  human  ex- 
perience shows  that  the  youth  is  father  of  the  man, 
for  it  tarries  with  the  man  —  and  with  every  man, 
in  greater  or  less  degree  —  long  after  the  youthful 
years  have  passed.  But  it  is  one  that  tends  to 
failure,   and   involves  it. 

The  critical  moment,  however,  comes  by  the 
Divine  appointment.  The  day  arrives,  which  is  not 
the  end  itself,  but  which  is  near  the  end  and  testi- 
fies of  it — the  day  which  begins  the  brief  closing 
season,  and  calls  for  and  awakens  thoughtfulness. 
What  does  it  say  to  the  thoughtful  man,  who  now 

263 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

hears  its  voice?  It  tells  him  that  there  remains 
within  the  brief  season  one  of  the  greatest  of 
gifts  —  the  gift  which  may  bear  with  it  a  remedy 
for  all  weakness,  and  even  for  all  wrong  purpose, 
in  the  past  —  the  power  of  a  new  resolve.  The  man 
may  take  the  gift  as  it  is  offered  to  him,  and,  in  the 
yet  lingering  days,  may  make  out  of  it  a  strong  and 
vigorous  and  glorified  life;  or,  if  it  need  be  so,  a 
wholly  renewed  and  transformed  life,  full  of  good 
as  the  former  one  was  of  evil. 

This  is  one  of  the  ways  in  which  we  are  educated 
in  this  world.  Something  is  always  ending  for  us. 
Something,  as  the  ending  time  draws  near,  is  ever 
reminding  us,  as  if  by  a  friendly  forewarning,  of 
that  which  is  so  soon  to  come.  Something  is  whis- 
pering in  our  ear,  with  the  tenderness  as  of  interest 
in  our  well-being,  that  in  the  days  between  the  fore- 
warning and  the  ending,  there  is  opportunity,  and 
more  than  this  —  a  great  force.  Rise  to  the  use 
and  exercise  of  the  force,  according  to  its  true  mean- 
ing. The  power  of  new  resolve  stands  ready  to 
change  the  character,  or  to  strengthen  it,  if  already 
changed.  Let  it  have  its  perfect  work.  So  the 
teaching  comes,  again  and  again,  as  we  move  on 
from  one  period  to  another,  — out  of  an  old  experi- 
ence into  a  new  one,  —  away  from  past  thoughtless- 
ness, or  failure,  toward  the  opening  possibility  of 
the  larger  and  better  future.  It  comes  with  a  pecu- 
liar impressiveness,  when  the  premonition  of  the 
end  is  given  at  the  beginning  of  that  brief  closing 
time  after  which  youth  in  its  fulness  is  to  pass  into 
manhood,  and  the   regrets  for  the  old   days  mingle 

264 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

with  the  hopes  and  fears  for  the  new  ones.  The 
educating  influence  of  such  a  time  must  tell  upon 
the  life  which  receives  it,  and  the  power  of  the  new 
resolve  must  gain  the  mastery  over  the  regrets  and 
the  fears  alike,  and  must  turn  the  hopes  into  assured 
confidence. 

Closely  connected  with  the  matter  of  new  resolve, 
though  having  an  independence  of  it,  is  another 
thing  which  remains  —  the  power  of  forming  a  new 
ideal.  This  is  one  of  the  best  things  which  still 
linger  with  us  in  the  closing  days.  And  this,  again, 
is  a  blessing  for  all.  For  the  man  who  has  had  a 
low  ideal,  unworthy  of  himself,  the  possibility  is  of 
a  wholly  changed  one,  which  shall  elevate  and 
ennoble  him,  lifting  him  by  its  grand  force  above 
his  old  self  and  bringing  him  into  the  realisation  of 
what  it  reveals.  But  for  men  who  have  known 
something  better  than  this  —  whose  ideal  has  been, 
to  their  own  thought,  high  perchance,  and  yet  has 
not  reached  the  loftiest  limits  —  there  is  a  great 
possibility.  The  ideal  of  life  or  manhood,  in  one 
sense,  may  never  be  higher  for  the  true  man  than  it 
is  at  the  beginning.  He  may  enter  on  his  course 
with  the  thought  of  the  perfection  of  himself  as 
that  at  which  he  is  to  aim  —  and  there  can  be  noth- 
ing beyond  this.  We  believe  that  there  are  many 
who  have  this  thought  in  the  early  years,  and  who 
hold  it  fast  in  their  minds  and  hearts.  There  are 
many  such  in  our  own  number,  as  we  would  not 
doubt. 

But  what  is  the  perfection  of  ourselves  ?  It  is  a 
265 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

happy  thing  that,  as  the  years  go  on,  this  question 
receives  for  us,  and  in  us,  a  larger  answer  —  more 
full  of  meaning  and  richness.  We  do  not  stay,  in 
our  thought,  as  we  were  in  the  earliest  time.  Our 
thought  widens  and  deepens.  You  do  not  wish,  my 
friend,  —  if  you  are  in  the  right  line  of  growth  —  to 
be  where  you  were  a  year  ago,  or  ten  years  ago,  in 
the  mind's  life  and  the  soul's  life.  You  are  more 
than  you  were  then,  and  you  rejoice  in  the  fact. 
It  will  be  so  hereafter.  You  will  be  more  ten  years 
hence,  and  thirty  years  hence,  than  you  are  now. 
Youth  in  its  fulness,  just  opening  into  manhood,  is 
a  grand  thing  and  a  good  thing —  as  beautiful  as  it 
is  hopeful, — but  it  is  not  everything,  or  the  best 
thing.  The  best  thing  is  beyond  it,  in  the  distance. 
And  as  for  the  progress  of  time  which  realises 
what  is  better,  and  at  last,  away  off  beyond  the 
present  vision,  what  is  best  —  how  much  of  its 
rich  gift  is  found  in  the  enlarging  and  ennobling 
of  the  ideal,  which  seemed  to  us,  at  the  beginning, 
as  grand  as  it  could  be.  The  ideal  has  become 
new  to  our  thought  —  we  discover  in  the  after 
days  —  because  of  the  new  meaning  which  it  has 
gathered  into  itself,  and  we  dwell  upon  it  with 
ever  increasing  interest,  as  its  influence  within  us 
glorifies  our  souls.  This  is  life  as  it  was  intended  to 
be  of  God,  and  as  we  know  it  for  ourselves,  in  our 
imperfect  measure,  in  the  growing  years. 

But  here,  as  everywhere,  life  moves  especially  in 
the  critical  seasons,  and  new  revelations  are  made 
to  it  as  it  turns  from  one  stage  of  its  progress 
toward    another.      We  gain,  at   the  turning-points, 

266 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

more  than  we  do  along  the  even  pathway/  Uphft- 
ing  thoughts  and  larger  views  come  to  our  minds 
when  the  ending  of  one  age  arrives  for  us  and 
points  onward  to  the  beginning  of  another.  The 
thoughts  then  are  suggestive  and  quickening  for  all 
the  future.  The  vision  widens,  and  takes  in,  ever 
afterward,  more  than  it  did  before.  We  know,  with 
a  deeper  knowledge,  by  reason  of  these  suggestive 
thoughts  and  this  wider  vision,  what  is  the  meaning 
and  what  is  the  reality  of  that  ideal  which  we  but 
partially  understood  in  the  earlier  time ;  and  the 
ideal  of  life  seems,  and  in  a  certain  real  sense 
is,  a  new  one  for  us.  Such  is  the  gift  which,  as 
the  ending  of  one  period  of  life  waits  a  little  for 
the  opening  of  the  next  one,  remains  within  the 
last  days  —  waiting  for  us,  each  and  every  one, 
to  take  it.  It  is  one  of  the  precious  things  that 
remain. 

And,  in  a  peculiar  sense  and  measure,  does  it 
belong  in  the  season  just  before  the  termination  of 
the  youthful  work  for  the  educated  man,  for  then  the 
taking  into  one's  self  the  best  thoughts  for  the  future 
is  the  most  natural  of  all  things.  The  season  lingers 
a  little,  we  may  almost  say,  for  this  purpose  ;  and  the 
power  of  forming  the  new  ideal  is  among  its  great- 
est blessings,  —  for,  as  this  is  filled  out  to  greater 
fulness  at  the  starting-point  of  the  manly  years,  the 
life  has  its  best  and  largest  opportunity  for  develop- 
ment under  its  influence. 

Allied  to  the  influence  of  the  new  ideal  is  still 
another  of  the  things  that  remain.     The  power  of 

267 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

putting  the  life  in  the  right  path  Hngers  with  the 
final  days  which  turn  the  thought  forward  to  the 
future.  And  here  we  may  speak  of  the  matter 
in  two  ways. 

The  life,  what  is  it?  It  is  first,  the  life  in  itself  — 
the  great,  deep,  central  life  of  the  soul,  in  which 
the  man  is  to  live  always.  This  may  be  put  in  the 
right  pathway  in  the  season  before  the  ending,  if  it 
has  never  been  set  on  that  way  before.  The  mean- 
ing and  purpose  of  the  season  indeed,  with  all  its 
admonition  of  the  future  and  tender  suggestivcness 
as  to  the  present  and  the  past,  are  found  in  its  influ- 
ence to  this  great  end.  There  is  no  more  earnest 
call,  in  all  the  years,  to  any  man  in  this  company, 
and  no  more  loving  one,  than  that  which  comes  to 
him  who  has  thus  far  failed  to  be  deeply  thoughtful 
of  right  living.  He  is  called,  in  these  passing  weeks 
before  the  ending  of  the  days  here,  to  do  what  has 
not  been  done — to  make  the  life  what  it  ought  to 
be,  by  giving  it  a  new  beginning.  And  with  the  sum- 
mons, comes  the  promise  which  rests  upon  the  power 
of  forming  new  ideals  and  the  power  of  new  resolve 
on  the  man's  part,  and  upon  the  wonderful  love  of 
the  heavenly  Father  who  sends  the  call  and  bids 
the  time  yet  linger.  The  blessing  of  all  blessings, 
in  its  possibility,  is  in  the  passing  days. 

But  the  life,  we  may  ask  again,  what  is  it?  It  is 
what  pertains  to  its  special  work  and  duty.  Here 
also  it  may  be  put  upon  the  right  pathway.  The 
question  of  the  particular  line  of  life  and  service,  is 
a  question  which  the  young  man  just  passing  out 
of  the  preparatory  period    most  naturally  presents 

268 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

to  himself.  It  is  not  essential,  however,  that  he 
should  answer  it,  at  the  moment.  It  may  be  that 
the  time  when  the  Divine  wisdom  would  open  the 
course  clearly  has  not  yet  arrived.  We  may  wait 
for  the  light  until  it  is  given  us.  But  the  great 
principles  which  should  determine  the  answer  and 
decision  are  needed  now.  Through  them  the  life 
is  to  be  set  right,  and  when  they  have  their  abiding- 
place  within  the  man,  the  answer  in  its  more  special 
bearing  will  be  possible  in  its  own  season.  The 
closing  days  wait  for  many  with  the  gift  of  tliis 
power  remaining  within  them.  The  man  may  es- 
tablish in  himself,  with  a  strength  unknown  before 
and  with  a  firmness  such  that  it  cannot  be  shaken, 
the  principle  that  shall  govern  his  choice  —  the 
principle  which  bears  with  it  the  resolve  to  do 
what  the  love  of  God  and  the  love  of  man  re- 
quire of  him.  We  do  not  go  wrong,  when  this 
has  dominion  over  our  souls.  Love  shows  the 
pathway,  when  the  Divine  moment  comes  for  the 
particular  decision.  The  days  that  wait  may  not 
be  long  enough  for  this  decision,  but  they  will  be 
long  enough  for  the  entrance  of  the  Divinely-given 
principle  —  and  the  life  will  be  on  the  right  path- 
way, so  soon  as  this  finds  its  legitimate  place  and 
force  in  the  soul. 

And  now  —  with  this  power  of  new  resolve,  and 
of  forming  the  new  ideal,  and  of  putting  life  on  the 
right  path,  which  is  offered  to  all  alike,  and  with 
this  gift  of  the  time  yet  lingering,  in  which  each 
may   take    to  himself  the    power  —  there    is    one 

269 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

more  thing  that  remains.  It  must  be  so,  because 
of  the  close  relations  of  the  company  to  one  another. 
The  days  that  wait  for  us  a  little  while  before  the 
end  carry  in  them  tlie  power  of  gaining  and  of  giv- 
ing the  best  influence.  One  of  the  marked  peculiari- 
ties of  the  life  which  young  men  lead  in  a  place 
like  this — in  near  and  intimate  companionship  for 
a  term  of  years,  having  common  pursuits,  and 
hopes,  and  impulses,  and  tastes,  in  large  measure  — 
is  this :  that  they  may  do  much  for  the  making  of 
one  another,  all  along  the  course.  Force  for  char- 
acter, and  for  thought,  and  for  feeling,  passes  and 
repasses  continually  throughout  the  little  commun- 
ity so  thoroughly  bound  together.  Consciously  at 
times,  and  far  more  often  unconsciously,  each  one 
gives  to  his  fellow  what  is  helpful  in  many  ways  — 
and  each  receives  as  richly  as  he  gives.  When  the 
result  is  counted  by  the  individual  man,  he  finds 
himself  to  be  far  different  from  what  he  was  at  the 
beginning.  New  elements  have  come  into  him 
which  were  unknown  in  the  earlier  time.  New 
force  is  manifested  in  his  manhood.  As  he  studies 
himself  carefully,  and  traces  back  to  its  sources 
what  he  has  gained,  he  discovers  that  he  is  partly 
made,  in  the  richest  development  of  mind  and  soul, 
out  of  the  inward  life  of  those  whom  he  has  known 
so  intimately,  and  with  whom  he  has  moved  onward 
in  the  journey  of  the  passing  years.  He  sees  also, 
as  he  studies  the  lives  of  those  about  him,  that  they 
have,  in  like  manner,  received  from  himself.  The 
life  of  the  united  company  has  become  quite  another 
thing  than  that  which  it  was.     The  individuality  of 

270 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

each,  indeed,  has  been  preserved,  but  it  has  been 
enlarged,  and  manifolded  in  its  powers  and  re- 
sources, and  made  more  beautiful  for  the  man  him- 
self and  sweeter  in  its  influence  for  other  men, 
because  it  has  taken  into  itself  the  best  of  that 
which  came  to  it  from  every  side.  So  it  is  always, 
when  the  individual  life  has  suffered  itself  to  grow, 
here,  in  the  right  way,  and  to  become  what  the 
ideal  of  the  place  would  make  it.  The  man  at  the 
end,  in  this  aspect  of  the  matter,  is  created  out  of 
many  men,  and,  in  his  turn,  he  has  done  his  part  in 
creating  many  men.  It  is  a  wonderful  process  and 
a  wonderful  result,  but  it  is  one  of  the  interesting 
things  of  this  our  peculiar  life,  that  we  see  the 
process  ever  going  forward  and  the  result  ever  com- 
ing nearer  to  its  realisation. 

But  our  thought  now  turns  towards  the  closing 
days,  just  before  the  end  and  yet  waiting  for  the 
end.  In  a  singular  measure  and  degree  is  the 
power  of  which  we  are  speaking  manifest  in  these 
days.  There  is  something  in  the  tenderness,  and 
even  sadness,  of  the  ending  time,  which  opens  both 
mind  and  heart.  No  one  has  failed  to  know  this, 
who  has  passed  through  the  experience  of  this 
season  in  any  of  the  years  that  reach  far  back 
to  the  beginning  of  the  college  history.  Men  get 
closer  to  each  other  as  they  draw  near  to  the  hour 
of  separation,  and  the  deeper  manhood  shows  itself 
more  easily.  It  opens  itself  both  for  the  giving 
and  receiving. 

I  have  seen  many  times  in  life,  as  has  every  man 
who  has  moved  along  the  years  for  a  considerable 

271 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

distance,  in  which  the  opportunity  for  getting  and 
for  bestowing  good  seemed  to  gather  itself  up  as  it 
were,  in  a  remarkable  way,  into  a  brief  season.  But 
I  have  never  known  a  time  when  for  manly  influence 
on  men  a  larger  possibility  offered  itself,  than  in  such 
days  as  these,  through  which  those  of  you,  my  friends, 
for  whom  the  past  and  the  future  are  so  near  their 
dividing  point,  are  now  passing.  A  man  among  you 
need  not  even  put  himself  to  earnest  effort  to  exert  or 
receive  the  influence.  He  may  simply  open  his  soul 
and  mind  for  its  incoming  and  outgoing,  and  the  result 
will  be  secured.  Everything  is  helpful  now  toward 
good,  if  one  only  does  not  shut  the  door  of  his  inmost 
self  against  it.  But  if  with  the  serious  life-purpose 
of  a  man  who  is  just  entering  upon  the  needs,  and 
the  experiences,  and  the  largeness  of  his  manly 
years,  he  puts  himself  to  the  earnest  efl"ort,  and  de- 
termines to  make  for  himself  and  take  for  himself 
what  is  in  the  closing  time,  he  may  find  within 
it  the  richest  gift  of  all  the  past  to  all  the  future. 
The  thing  that  remains  is  the  best  thing,  and  it 
stands  ready  for  each  and  every  man,  that  he  may 
receive  it,  in  the  brief  season  which  is  now  beginning 
and  is  so  soon  to  end,  as  a  source  of  inspiration  and 
impulse  and  life-giving  force  —  a  force  and  impulse 
and  inspiration,  which  shall  make  the  man  ever 
larger  in  his  manhood  and  happier  also. 

I  think  of  human  life  —  when  it  is  lived  after  the 
right  method  and  when  the  powers  of  mind  and  soul 
abide  till  the  end  —  as  always  growing  in  the  rich- 
ness of  its  experiences  and  blessings,  as  it  grows  in 

272 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

the  forces  and  acquisitions,  the  knowledge  and  ex- 
perience, that  pertain  to  it.  How  can  it  seem 
otherwise  to  us,  when  we  view  it  as  we  ought? 
But  if  so,  may  we  not  think  of  it,  and  must  we  not, 
as  finding  in  its  closing  season  —  after  the  admoni- 
tion of  the  end  has  been  given,  but  before  the  end 
itself  has  come  —  a  gift  which  will  have  a  singular 
blessing  for  us  because,  as  it  enters  the  life,  it  may 
be  taken  onward  into  the  greater  world  beyond? 
And  is  not  this  gift,  the  power,  realised  in  ex- 
perience, of  gathering  up  into  the  life  all  the  elevat- 
ing and  enriching  influence  of  the  past  years,  and 
the  past  associations,  as  it  offers  itself  anew  to  the 
mind  and  the  heart?  The  evening  time  of  the  true 
life  will  be  light,  by  reason  of  the  light  of  the  by- 
gone years  thus  shining  out  upon  the  coming  and 
eternal  years. 

So,  in  its  measure,  is  it  with  the  Hfe  of  youth  in  a 
place  like  this  and  surroundings  like  ours.  The  last 
happy  days  are  not  happy  only  because  of  the 
bright  season  of  the  year,  or  because  the  work  is 
mainly  ended,  or  because  there  is  promise  in  the 
future.  They  are  happy,  far  more  truly  and  in  far 
higher  degree,  because  in  them  is  this  thing  still 
remaining  —  that  we  gather  up,  as  it  were,  in  this 
brief  season  all  the  possibilities  of  giving  and  of 
getting,  for  the  inmost  soul  of  each  and  all,  the  in- 
fluence for  good  of  every  individual  life  and  of  the 
common  Hfe.  The  good  which  is  thus  off'ered,  and 
is  thus  made  one's  own,  abides  for  the  lifetime,  and 
beyond  the  lifetime  in  this  world.  It  glorifies  the 
man,  and  makes  the  memory  of  the  past  years,  and 


i8 


273 


THE  INNER  LIEE 

the    hopes    and    experiences    of    the    future   years, 
blessed  as  with  a  Divine  blessing. 

The  days  that  are  now  passing  by  you,  my  young 
friends,  who  are  drawing  near  the  end  of  your 
course  here,  are  full  of  meaning,  of  possibility,  of 
gifts,  whose  value  cannot  be  measured.  Let  me, 
as  an  older  friend  who  passed  through  similar  days 
a  long  time  ago,  ask  you  with  all  the  emphasis  of 
the  subsequent  years,  to  realise  for  yourselves  their 
meaning,  and  take  to  yourselves  the  full  measure 
of  their  gifts  and  their  possibilities. 


274 


XIX 

THE   POWER   OF   PERSONAL  LIFE 

Sorrowing  most  of  all  for  the  word  which  he  had  spoken, 
that  they  should  see  his  face  7io  more.  —  Acts  xx.  38. 

THESE  words  are  very  human  and  very  sug- 
gestive. We  can  easily  picture  to  ourselves 
the  scene  which  the  historian  presents  before  us,  as 
he  tells  of  the  farewell  which  was  given  by  the 
Apostle  to  his  friends.  He  had  lived  with  them, 
and  among  them,  for  the  three  preceding  years. 
During  this  period  he  had  declared  to  them  a  new 
doctrine,  which  had  become  life  to  their  souls.  He 
had  spoken  the  truth,  as  he  believed  it,  with  all 
faithfulness  and  tenderness.  He  had  warned  them 
of  dangers,  and  assured  them  of  consolation,  and 
borne  witness  to  them  of  the  purpose  and  plan  of 
God,  and  pointed  them  in  all  their  needs  to  His 
grace.  He  had  given  all  to  them  and  done  all  for 
them  freely,  imposing  himself  in  no  way  as  a  burden 
upon  them,  but  ever  labouring  for  his  own  support, 
that  he  might  make  all  things  that  he  did  in  their 
behalf  a  gift.  When  the  three  years  were  drawing 
near  their  end,  he  had  been  constrained  to  leave 
their  city,  as  violent  excitement  had  been  roused 
against  him  and  his  teaching,  and  for  a  few  months 
he  had  returned  to  Corinth  to  renew  his  work  and 

275 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

strengthen  the  disciples  there.  The  lime  for  one 
of  the  great  annual  feasts  at  Jerusalem  was  now 
approaching,  and  he  turned  his  course  thitherward. 
On  the  way,  the  vessel  in  which  he  was  making  his 
voyage  touched  at  a  place  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
the  city  where  he  had  thus  lived  so  long.  The 
opportunity  was  now  afforded  him  of  meeting  once 
more,  for  a  brief  hour,  the  chief  members  of  the 
church  brotherhood  which  he  had  gathered  together 
by  his  preaching.  He  calls  them  to  him  and 
addresses  them  in  words  of  affection  and  retro- 
spect; and  as  he  thus  speaks,  he  takes  his  final 
leave  of  them,  telling  them  of  his  belief  that  they 
will  never  meet  him  again. 

What  a  human  scene  it  was  —  answering  to  the 
experience  of  all  ages,  and  bearing  in  itself  the 
evidence  of  the  most  natural  sentiment,  as  we  read 
the  words  in  which  it  is  described.  But  of  all  the 
words  the  most  natural  and  most  human  are  the 
closing  ones :  They  sorrowed  most  of  all,  because 
they  knew  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more. 

The  picture,  as  we  call  it  before  our  minds,  is  an 
interesting  one  indeed,  for  it  represents  a  thousand 
other  scenes  in  human  experience  as  truly  as  that 
which  it  offers  to  our  view.  But  we  would  not 
dwell  upon  it  simply  or  mainly  because  of  this  fact. 
The  words,  as  we  have  said,  are  as  suggestive 
as  they  are  human,  and  the  teaching  comes  from 
them —  as  it  comes  often  from  words  and  thoughts 
—  by  reason  of  their  suggestiveness. 

Why  was  it  that  these  Christian  believers  sorrowed 
276 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

tluis  by  reason  of  the  thought  that  they  should  not 
see  Paul's  face  again?  It  was  because  they  realised 
at  that  moment,  with  an  emphasis  of  reality,  that  the 
sight  of  the  face  was  the  sight  of  the  man.  If  they 
could  see  him,  they  knew  that  there  would  rise 
before  them  the  vivid  representation  of  all  that  he 
had  been  and  done,  and  of  what  he  might  do  and 
be.  They  knew  that  the  blessing  of  the  past  would 
have  a  new  manifestation  of  itself,  and  the  richness 
of  the  future  would  give  a  foreshadowing  and  fore- 
taste of  its  promise.  It  is  always  so,  when  we  meet 
an  old  friend  after  a  season  of  separation.  His  face 
bears  testimony  to  us  of  all  that  is  behind  the  pres- 
ent, and  of  all  that  is  before  it.  The  face,  at  such  a 
moment,  is  the  man.  The  loss  of  the  face  is,  in  a 
certain  sense,  the  loss  of  the  man.  Everything 
passes  into  the  sphere  of  memory,  and  the  clearness 
and  distinctness  of  the  vision  fade  in  some  measure, 
and  gradually,  away. 

But  if  the  face  is  the  man,  it  is  wJiat  the  man  was 
that  makes  the  renewed  seeing  of  the  face  a  matter 
of  such  strong  desire.  We  do  not  care  to  meet 
again  those  who  have  left  nothing  of  themselves 
within  us,  or  for  our  lives,  from  the  time  of  our  last 
meeting.  We  bid  them  farewell  without  any  stir- 
ring of  sorrowful  feeling.  Let  us  look  at  the 
Apostle  and  his  friends  again.  He  had  been  for 
them  a  teacher.  The  message  which  he  had 
brought  to  them  was  an  announcement  of  something 
that  they  had  not  known  or  thought  of  before.  As 
they  received  it  and  gave  it  its  full  power  over  their 
minds,  it  ennobled  and  glorified  life  for  them.     As 

2?7 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

a  teacher,  he  had  carefully  explained  to  them  what 
they  were  slow  to  learn.  He  had  repeated  and 
impressed  his  lessons.  He  had  led  them  on  from 
step  to  step,  giving  them  new  light  when  they  were 
moving  towards  darkness.  He  had  testified  of  what 
he  believed,  and  had  admonished  and  encouraged 
and  inspired  them,  according  to  the  necessity  of 
their  development  in  discipleship.  He  had  been 
more  even  than  their  teacher;  he  had  been,  as  he 
said  to  the  members  of  another  Christian  brother- 
hood, their  spiritual  father.  Their  life  had  come 
from  him,  and  had  been  watched  over  and  cared  for 
by  him.  Surely  they  might  well,  in  view  of  all  this, 
have  grief  of  a  peculiar  sort  in  the  thought  that  they 
were  not  to  see  his  face  again.  How  much  would 
such  a  sight  mean,  if  it  could  only  be  granted  even 
for  an  hour  !  It  would  mean  the  fresh  remembrance, 
with  all  its  quickening  and  wonderful  power  for  the 
soul,  of  the  first  beginning  and  the  joyous  progress 
in  the  early  days,  and  the  rich  growth  in  the  later 
time,  of  that  new  life  for  which  they  were  thankful 
to  God,  and  in  which  they  were  ever  rejoicing  as 
they  .looked  onward  and  upward. 

But  there  was  something  besides  this,  as  the  face 
represented  the  man.  It  was  the  personality  of  the 
teacher,  and  not  only  his  teaching,  which  they 
called  to  mind  as  they  thought  of  the  separation. 
The  teacher  had,  as  we  may  say,  lived  the  teaching, 
which  he  commended  to  their  reception.  He  had 
given  them  deep  thoughts,  and  sweet  thoughts,  and 
inspiring  thoughts,  respecting  the  great  truth,  as  he 
had   manifested  before  them    its  controlling  power 

278 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

within  himself.  He  had  displayed  to  them  in  many 
ways,  and  on  many  sides,  the  greatness  and  grand- 
ness  of  human  character  as  it  is  brought  under  the 
influence  of  the  Gospel  of  God.  How  impressive 
must  have  been  to  their  minds,  at  this  hour  of  their 
last  meeting,  the  words  which  he  spoke  in  such 
simplicity  and  sincerity :  After  what  manner  I  was 
with  you  all  the  time ;  how  I  shrank  not  from  de- 
claring unto  you  anything  that  was  profitable ;  by 
the  space  of  three  years,  I  ceased  not  to  admonish 
every  one  night  and  day  with  tears ;  in  all  things 
I  gave  you  an  example,  that  ye  ought  to  help  the 
weak :  I  hold  not  my  life  of  any  account,  as  dear 
unto  myself,  so  that  I  may  accomplish  my  course 
and  the  ministry  which  I  received  from  the  Lord 
Jesus.  How  the  man  must  have  risen  before  them 
in  the  magnificence  of  his  Christian  manhood,  as 
these  expressions  came  upon  their  hearing.  And 
what  a  wonderful  emphasis  must  have  been  added 
to  them,  as  from  the  depths  of  a  heroic  soul,  when, 
with  the  consciousness  of  what  his  life  among  them 
had  been,  he  said :  I  coveted  no  man's  silver,  or 
gold,  or  apparel ;  ye  yourselves  know  that  these 
hands  ministered  to  my  necessities  and  to  them 
that  were  with  me ;  remember  the  words  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,  which  I  have  remembered  and  followed, 
how  he  himself  said.  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than 
to  receive. 

They   must  have    taken    knowledge  of  him  —  as 
they  thus  saw  what  was  in  his  inmost    soul  —  that  x 
he  had  indeed  been  with  Jesus,  and  had  learned  of 
Him  —  learned    of  Him,   not  with   the   mind   only, 

279 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

but  in  the  life.  All  these  words  also,  as  they  called 
up  in  review  the  years  of  their  happy  fellowship 
with  him,  must  have  brought  to  their  recollection 
many  others  which  he  had  spoken,  and  which  had 
become  life-developing  for  their  own  souls.  Such 
words  as  he  wrote  afterwards  have  moved  the  life- 
powers  for  multitudes  of  the  most  intelligent  and 
thoughtful  men  in  all  generations.  They  must  have 
contained  within  themselves,  in  some  peculiar  sense 
and  degree,  the  seed-principle  of  the  true  life  for 
those  who  first  heard,  or  first  read  them.  To  see 
again  a  man  full  of  such  thoughts  would  be  a  privi- 
lege indeed ;  to  see  him  no  more  would  be,  as  we 
may  easily  believe,  a  matter  of  sorrowful  feeling, 
with  which  no  other  would  seem  worthy  to  be 
compared. 

Let  us  now,  as  we  think  of  the  scene  and  its  sug- 
gestions, ask,  What  are  the  thoughts  which  may  fitly 
come  to  our  minds  respecting  ourselves,  and  respect- 
ing life?  The  first,  as  it  seems  to  me,  is  a  thought 
bearing  upon  the  matter  of  reward,  and  is  this: 
—  that  the  true  and  best  reward  of  life,  as  it  moves 
on  its  way,  or  as  it  ends,  is  not  to  be  found  in  its 
success  or  its  fame,  but  in  that  which  Paul  had  here. 
Paul  had  done  a  remarkable  work  in  this  promi- 
nent city,  and  also  elsewhere.  He  had  become  one 
of  the  great  lights  in  the  Christian  Church,  as  it 
extended  itself  widely  from  its  earliest  home  over 
the  Gentile  world.  He  had  had  wonderful  success, 
as  estimated  by  the  possibilities  of  the  sphere  within 
which  he  put  forth  his  efforts  and  to  which  he  con- 

280 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

secrated  his  powers.  But  what  would  his  fame,  or 
success,  or  prominence,  or  wide  influence  have 
been,  if  he  had  not  been  hi  hiJiisclf  what  he  was,  — 
if  the  men  who  saw  and  heard  him  had  not  per- 
ceived within  him  the  reaHty  of  that  which  he 
taught,  —  if,  in  a  word,  the  man  had  not  been  more 
than  the  success  or  the  fame,  and  had  not  been  in 
the  highest  measure  worthy  to  be  seen  again  ? 

Men  look  forward  with  intensity  of  interest  and 
desire  to  success  in  the  attainment  of  reputation  or 
power  or  position  as  an  inestimable  good  in  itself. 
They  make  the  possession  of  this  good  the  dream 
of  their  early  ambition,  the  aim  of  their  manly  effort, 
the  end  of  their  living.  When  they  strive  or 
struggle  for  the  prize,  which  they  thus  covet,  in  a 
selfish  spirit,  and  with  no  thought  or  care  for  any 
service  on  behalf  of  the  world,  they  persuade  them- 
selves that  life  has  no  nobler  meaning  in  it,  and  is 
only  intended  to  realise  its  gains.  When  they  rise 
above  this  lower  level,  where  they  are  unworthy  of 
their  manhood,  and  take  into  their  thought  and 
action  what  may  be  helpful  to  others,  they  think 
that  the  prize  is  glorified,  indeed,  by  this  motive 
which  attends  the  effort  for  it,  but  that  it  is  still  in 
itself  the  same  thing.  In  every  way  they  press  on 
after  it,  as  if  it  were  what  makes  life  worth  the 
living. 

But  a  touching  and  beautiful  scene  like  this,  upon 
which  we  are  dwelling  in  our  thought  for  a  few 
moments,  has  in  itself  another  lesson  and  a  widely 
different  one.  The  grief,  which  was  so  manifestly 
and  sincerely  in  the  hearts  of  those  about  him,  was 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

more  to  the  man  who  witnessed  it  than  any  success, 
in  the  outward  measure  of  success,  which  he  had  had 
could  ever  be.  It  was  so,  because  it  bore  testimony 
of  the  hfe  which  was  in  them,  and  of  that  which 
was  in  him.  And  so  it  is  always.  The  earnest 
desire  to  see  the  face  again  —  so  that  the  knowledge 
that  it  cannot  be  is  the  most  regretful  of  all  things  in 
the  parting  —  shows  that  the  associate  of  the  years 
has  much  in  himself,  and  has  given  forth  much  for 
us.  A  uniting  force  binds  us  together,  and  the  life, 
which  is  now  common  to  us  both,  owes  its  origin  and 
its  growth  for  ourselves,  in  greater  or  less  degree, 
to  what  was,  and  is,  in  him. 

I  ask  you  to  think  of  it,  my  friends  —  you  who  are 
soon  to  go  forth  from  the  pleasant  associations  of 
the  four  years  in  this  place.  What  is  the  word  which 
you  desire  most  of  all  to  hear  from  your  intimate 
friends,  and  most  of  all  to  speak  to  them  at  the  end  ? 
Is  it  not  the  word  that  carries  in  itself  the  hope  of 
another  meeting  —  the  sight  of  the  face,  at  some 
future  time?  Is  not  the  hearing  of  this  word,  as  it 
comes  from  the  depths  of  the  soul  of  the  man  whom 
you  have  known  and  loved,  the  reward  of  these  years, 
beyond  any  other  reward?  And  why  is  it  thus?  Is 
it  not  —  when  you  have  the  thought  resting  upon  the 
true  foundation  —  because  the  word  as  it  is  spoken 
tells,  with  the  emphasis  of  the  soul's  life,  of  what  he 
knows  that  you  have  done  for  him  by  reason  of 
what  you  have  been  in  yourself?  It  is  a  testimony 
to  what  is  more  fundamental  than  success,  and  far 
nearer  to  the  centre  of  life  than  fame.  It  speaks  of 
what  the   man  really  is ;    and  surely  the  manhood 

282 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

of  the  man  is  the  highest  reward  of  the  years.  It 
will  be  so,  equally,  in  the  coming  time.  Life  is  not 
going  to  turn  around  for  you  and  become  quite 
another  thing,  when  the  youthful  season  is  past,  from 
what  it  is  now.  There  is  a  larger  sphere  before  you, 
indeed ;  and  there  are  greater  prizes,  as  the  world 
calls  them,  which  are  to  be  offered.  But  the  human 
soul  is  the  same,  and  the  reward,  which  meets  and 
satisfies  the  human  soul  in  its  inmost  and  noblest 
feeling,  will  be  the  same  at  the  ending  that  it  is  at 
the  opening  of  the  manly  career.  This  reward  will 
be  the  testimony  which  comes  from  the  living  forces 
of  other  souls,  as  they  have  received  the  best  of 
influence  and  inspiration  from  the  man  in  whose 
behalf  they  testify. 

The  second  thought,  that  comes  to  us  from  the 
scene  to  which  we  have  turned  our  minds  and  its  sug- 
gestions, as  it  seems  to  me,  is  this:  — that  the  true 
standard  for  the  measurement  of  value,  as  related  to 
our  personal  lives,  is  not  to  be  discovered  in  our 
teaching,  or  our  working,  but  in  our  living.  Paul's 
teaching  was  a  marvellous  teaching,  surely;  full  of 
life-giving  power,  if  any  teaching  could  be.  His 
working,  in  its  constancy  and  its  energy,  and  its 
wisdom  in  adapting  itself  to  its  purpose,  was  as 
remarkable  as  was  the  doctrine  which  he  taught. 
But  what  a  change  there  would  have  been  in  the 
manifestation  before  the  world  of  both,  if  the  man  - 
had  not  been  what  he  was  in  his  living.  It  was  the 
man  as  formed  under  the  influence  of  the  doctrine, 
and  putting  forth  the  reality  of  himself  into  his  work, 

283 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

that  made  the  glory  of  his  career.  It  was  the  man 
within  him  that  made  his  friends  grieve  because  they 
were  to  see  him  no  more.  So  it  is  with  us,  each  and 
every  one. 

The  tendency  of  the  world  is  to  teaching  and 
working.  We  become  restless,  with  the  thought  that 
we  are  not  fulfilling  our  mission  among  men,  if  we 
are  not  in  action  always,  or  ever  declaring  a  mes- 
sage. But  it  is  well  for  us  to  remember  that,  in  the 
Divine  ordering,  a  message  of  life  is  but  half  of  it- 
self, without  life  in  the  messenger,  and  that  action, 
even  when  it  moves  in  the  right  line,  is  a  force- 
less thing,  unless  there  is  a  vital  energy  behind 
it.  Herein  lies  the  effective  power  of  enthusiasm. 
Enthusiasm  means  life  in  the  man.  He  works,  out 
of  an  inspiration  which  has  become  a  part  of  his 
being,  and  so  he  moves  victoriously  towards  results 
in  other  men.  But  in  the  moral  sphere,  especially, 
there  is  no  true  enthusiasm  without  life. 

I  ask  you  to  look  at  your  own  experience,  my 
friend,  whether  it  be  narrower  or  wider.  Who  is  the 
man  from  whom  the  greatest  power  has  come  upon 
your  personal  manhood  ?  Is  it  not  the  one  whose 
inner  life  has  been  most  rich  and  deep  and  true?  Is 
it  not  the  one  from  whom,  whenever  you  have  seen 
him  —  not  only  in  the  intercourse  of  every  day,  but 
even  as  he  was  passing  along  these  paths  and  under- 
neath these  elms  —  you  have  felt  that  a  lesson  of 
genuine  manliness  has  come  to  your  soul?  Such  a 
man,  if  a  teacher,  has  carried  his  moral  and  spiritual 
teaching  for  you  in  himself.  It  needed  no  word 
from  his  lips  for  your  hearing,  for  you  have  seen  it 

284 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

in  your  seeing  him.  If  he  was  a  worker,  even  in  the 
best  lines  of  effort  —  even  for  the  purifying  and 
elevating  of  the  souls  of  those  around  him  —  his 
real  energy  and  force  have  been  manifest  to  you 
as  behind  and  beneath  the  work,  and  in  the  life.  If 
he  was  a  friend,  you  have  known  the  influence,  not 
simply  when  you  have  talked  with  him  and  have 
listened  to  the  expression  of  his  thoughts,  but  be- 
cause you  have  beheld,  in  his  whole  exhibition  of 
himself,  what  his  thoughts  have  been  to  his  own 
mind  and  for  the  development  of  character  within 
himself.  But  if  this  be  so,  the  very  atmosphere  of  the 
place  in  which  we  are  passing  these  years  is  full  of 
testimony  to  the  truth.  No  serious  man,  I  am  sure, 
can  take  his  farewell  of  the  place,  and  its  associations, 
without  giving  to  himself  at  least,  if  not  to  others,  his 
witness,  that  the  manhood  in  those  whom  he  has 
esteemed  and  loved  here  as  the  worthiest  men  lies 
deeper  than  their  doing,  or  their  speaking,  and  that, 
in  his  desire  to  see  them  again,  the  chief  impulse 
comes  to  him  from  what  he  knows  them  to  be. 

It  must  have  been  a  delightful  thing  to  the  mind 
of  Paul,  that  the  men  with  whom  he  had  lived  for 
three  years  of  intimate  acquaintance  wished  so 
earnestly  that  they  might  have  another  meeting  with 
him  because  he  was  what  he  was.  But  as  he  thought 
of  their  feeling  with  pleasure,  he  may  well  have  said 
to  himself,  This  wish  of  theirs  is  an  evidence  of  the 
true  estimate  for  myself,  and  for  every  other  man. 
What  we  are  is  more  than  what  we  do.  And  so  -^ 
with  us  all.  If  we  may  have  within  ourselves  the 
thought  that  the  first  of  all  things  for  the  true  life  is 

285 


THOUGHTS   OF  AND   FOR 

what  we  are,  and  that  from  this,  as  if  its  outgoing 
and  its  fruit,  is  to  go  forth  all  that  we  do  or  teach, 
we  shall  ever  abide  near  the  Divine  ideal,  and  ever 
be  under  its  glorifying  influence. 

The  third  thought  that  comes  to  us  from  the 
scene,  which  has  been  presented  to  our  minds,  and 
its  suggestions  —  and  the  last  one  to  which  I  will 
refer  —  is  closely  related  to  those  which  we  have 
been  considering.  It  is  this  :  — The  true  impulse  of 
the  true  man  is,  to  develop  rich  thoughts  within 
himself,  and  to  give  them  to  others.  A  man  does 
not  fulfil  the  ideal  of  his  life  any  more  truly  than  he 
fulfils  its  obligations,  if  he  simply  performs  the  tasks 
assigned  him,  or  does  his  outward  work,  whatever  it 
may  be.  The  mind  and  soul  within  him  need  to  be 
cultivated,  and  to  be  fruitful.  He  needs  to  have, 
according  to  the  possibilities  which  life  opens  to 
him,  elevating  thoughts  on  the  subjects  which  relate 
to  the  highest  interests  of  his  manhood.  It  is  such 
thoughts,  that  enlarge  and  glorify  his  personality. 
He  needs  them,  also,  for  their  helpful  and  upbuilding 
influence  as  bearing  upon  those  about  him.  If  a 
man  lives  for  three  years,  as  Paul  did,  in  intimate 
relations  with  a  little  community  of  men,  or  with  a 
few  individual  men,  he  fails  of  his  highest  duty,  as 
well  as  of  his  best  influence,  in  case  they  are  able 
to  gain  nothing  from  the  movement  and  working  of 
his  inmost  life.  We  were  intended  to  do  good  to 
one  another  in  this  way,  as  truly  as  in  other  ways, 
and,  if  wc  have  the  vital  power  of  the  life  in  our- 
selves, we  shall  do  so;    for  life  always  works  from 

286 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

the  centre  outwards  and  beyond  itself.  No  man  can 
take  into  himself  the  all-powerful,  transforming  Chris-v; 
tian  doctrine,  and  live  with  it  as  a  vivifying  force  in 
his  heart,  without  having  much  of  its  influence  in 
the  mind's  thinking ;  —  and  if  he  has  this  influence 
in  his  thinking,  it  will  go  forth,  often  without  an 
effort  and  almost  before  he  is  aware,  to  those  with 
whom  he  is  associated  in  the  fellowships  of  the 
world. 

The  Christian  man  always  has  thoughts.  He  can-^ 
not  be  near  to  Christ,  and  dwell  upon  His  love, 
without  them.  But  the  educated  Christian  has  an 
especial  duty  and  privilege  in  this  regard.  It  is  a 
part  of  his  calling  —  as  it  is  indeed,  after  his  measure, 
in  the  case  of  every  educated  man  —  to  be  thought- 
ful. Education  is  not  mere  learning  or  the  acquisi- 
tion of  knowledge  —  the  accumulation  of  a  treasure 
to  be  laid  up  in  the  mind,  and  to  remain  there  without 
living  energy.  Education  is  the  cultivation  and  de- 
velopment of  thinking  power,  and  a  man  who  has  not 
secured  for  himself  this  has,  so  far,  wasted  the  years 
of  his  education.  The  knowledge  and  learning  find 
their  real  end  in  this.  But  the  highest  moral  and 
spiritual  education  is  open  to  the  Christian ;  and  in 
this  sphere,  especially,  is  there  no  richest  develop- 
ment without  the  stirring  of  the  thinking  power.  A 
man  must  turn  his  mind  in  upon  itself,  and  must 
study  his  soul,  if  he  would  set  forward  the  true 
growth   of  his  character. 

What   would    Paul's    life    have    been  without  his  > 
thoughts  —  where  would  have  been  the  greatness  of 
his  character,  which  we  now  see  so  clearly,  if  there 

287 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

had  been  within  him  nothing  of  that  inspiring  Chris- 
tian thinking  which  filled  his  letters  with  the  ex- 
pression of  itself,  and  came  with  impelling  power  to 
the  minds  of  those  to  whom  he  spoke  ?  We  need  not 
look  back  to  Paul,  however.  We  may  look  again  at 
ourselves.  If  we  find,  as  we  all  do  in  the  review  of 
the  years,  that  the  growth  of  our  individual  lives  in 
the  mental  and  spiritual  part  is  largely  the  result 
of  what  is  given  to  us  by  the  stimulating  thought  of 
others,  the  question  is  answered  for  us  at  once,  and 
with  emphasis.  We  miss  half  of  the  opportunity  of 
hfe,  we  fail  of  half  of  its  power  for  good,  if  we  do 
not  become  thoughtful  men  —  men  who  make  the 
having  and  the  giving  forth  of  the  most  helpful,  and 
the  most  inspiring,  and  the  best  thoughts  the  object 
of  their  constant  mental  effort.  And  how  may  this 
be  accomplished  better  than  in  the  way  in  which  the 
Apostle  realised  it  for  himself — by  putting  the 
mind  in  daily  communion  with  the  highest  truths  of 
the  soul's  hfe,  and  bringing  it  to  the  continual,- 
joyful  study  of  the  thought  and  inner  life  of  Christ, 
the  great  teacher  and  the  perfect  man? 

I  have  thus  called  your  attention,  my  friends,  to 
a  verse  from  the  sacred  writings  which  tells  of  a 
parting  between  friends  in  the  eariiest  days  of  the 
church.  It  has  a  fitness  in  its  lesson  for  all  of 
us  in  the  closing  of  our  academic  year,  and  an 
especial  fitness  for  some  of  us  in  the  ending  of  all 
the  academic  years.  The  old  scene  in  its  great 
central  feature,  may  seem  to  repeat  itself,  as  the 
days   pass  on  and  the  question  of  future  meetings 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

comes  to  those  who  must  think  of  them  with  so 
much  of  interest.  It  is  well  for  you  to  bear  in 
mind  the  true  standard  of  living,  and  the  best  re- 
ward of  life,  as  you  look  back  over  the  past  and 
forward  to  the  future.  And  it  is  fitting  for  you  to 
remember  that  the  thoughts  for  the  inner  life  and 
the  true  life,  which  you  gain  and  which  you  give, 
are  the  upbuilding  forces  for  the  souls  of  all  alike. 
That  you  may,  every  one  of  you,  realise  the 
blessing  of  giving  and  receiving,  in  all  that  makes 
life  what  it  ought  to  be,  is  my  best  wish  for  you  ;  and 
that  you  may  know,  by  a  constant  experience,  that 
it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  it  is  to  receive,  even 
as  the  Lord  Jesus  Himself  said,  is  my  largest  hope ; 
—  the  same  wish  and  hope  which  I  would  have  for 
myself. 


19  289 


XX 

THE  GIFTS  AND  LESSONS  OF  THE  YEARS 

IViih  lo)ig  life  will  I  satisfy  hitn,  atid  show  him  iny  salva- 
tion.—  Psalm  xci.  i6. 

I  PROPOSE  to  suggest  for  consideration,  at  this 
time,  a  few  thoughts  upon  a  somewhat  uncom- 
mon subject  of  discourse  —  the  blessing  of  growing 
older,  or  the  increasing  happiness  of  life  as  it  ad- 
vances. We  hear  much,  in  the  ordinary  conversa- 
tion of  mankind,  of  the  brightness  and  joy  of  early 
years.  Almost  every  man  looks  back  upon  his 
childhood  with  a  sense  of  peculiar  charm,  and  feels 
that  its  half-remembered  days  were  cloudless  like  a 
summer  morning,  while  the  later  years  have  been 
clouded  and  darkened.  The  fond  wishes  of  the  soul, 
therefore,  return  to  that  which  is  behind  us,  in  the 
nearer  or  remoter  distance.  We  carry  with  us  a 
regret,  which  sometimes,  indeed,  hides  itself  away 
from  notice  in  the  multitude  of  our  employments,  but 
ever  and  anon  breaks  forth  in  its  strength,  that  the 
past  cannot  come  back  even  for  an  hour,  and  that 
we  can  never  experience  again  what  we  once  en- 
joyed. We  listen  also  to  much  in  the  public  dis- 
coursing of  the  Church  concerning  the  peculiar 
privileges  of  the  young  and  those  who  are  just  enter- 
ing upon  their  career.     They  are  believed  to  hav^e, 

290 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

not  only  the  hope  and  promise  of  the  world  in  them- 
selves, but  to  be  in  a  more  desirable  position  than 
older  persons  in  what  relates  to  their  own  individual 
and  interior  life.  How  seldom,  on  the  other  hand, 
are  men  of  forty  or  sixty  addressed,  except  to  re- 
mind them  of  increasing  responsibilities,  or,  per- 
chance, of  wasted  opportunities,  or  of  the  rapidity 
with  which  life  is  passing,  or  the  nearness  of  its  end- 
ing. That  a  man  is  becoming  happier  as  he  is 
getting  older  —  that  life  is  richer,  and  deeper,  and  y 
better  for  every  right-minded  person  now,  than  it 
was  twenty  years  ago  —  seems  to  be  a  thought 
which  scarcely  enters  the  ordinary  mind,  or,  at  least, 
which  scarcely  ever  so  impresses  itself  as  to  demand 
and  find  an  utterance. 

I  believe  that  the  truth  is  on  the  other  side  of  this 
matter,  and  I  ask  the  kindly  reader  to  follow  me  as 
we  consider  the  question  whether  it  be  not  so. 

In  the  first  place,  let  us  look  at  the  happiness  of  ^ 
childhood  or  early  youth,  and  inquire  what  it  is. 
It  is  the  sense  of  life,  in  its  beauty  and  joy,  as  a  new 
thing.  It  is  freedom  from  anxieties,  doubts  and 
fears.  It  is  the  calm  confidence  that  there  will  be 
provision  for  its  wants.  It  is  the  affection  of  the 
home  circle,  as  yet  unbroken  by  separation.  It  is 
the  awakening  consciousness  of  the  mind's  own 
powers  and  capacities,  and  the  hope  that,  by  means 
of  them,  the  man  will  in  due  time  accomplish  great 
things  in  the  world.  We  move  onward  a  little  way 
beyond  our  first  maturity,  and  we  find  all  this 
changed,  in  greater  or  less  degree.    The  world  seems 

291 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

a  different  place  from  what  it  used  to  be,  and  we  are 
roughly  shaken  out  of  our  pleasant  dreams  and  pict- 
urings.  No  wonder,  that  we  begin  at  once  to  be  dis- 
heartened, and  to  feel  that  the  early  years,  as  they  ran 
away  from  us,  bore  with  them  beyond  our  sight  the 
brightness  and  unalloyed  happiness  of  life.  Trials, 
and  anxieties,  and  labours,  and  separations,  and 
many  failures  in  plans  and  purposes  enter  soon  into 
the  place  of  all  that  was  so  peaceful  and  beautiful. 
It  is  a  world  of  hard  work,  instead  of  play.  It  is  a 
world  of  sorrow,  even,  and  constant  disappointment. 
The  golden  period  is  behind  us,  not  before  us. 
But  stay  a  moment  in  your  thought,  my  friend. 
■^  Happiness  is  not  freedom  from  care.  We  are 
reasoning  and  working  beings  —  designed  for  ma- 
turity, and  not  for  the  mere  beginnings.  Thirty 
or  forty  years  ago,  perchance,  you  had  not  a  thought 
going  out  beyond  the  enjoyment  of  the  day,  or  the 
morrow,  and  therefore  were  free  from  care.  But 
you  were  doi7ig  nothing;  you  were  only,  at  the 
most,  preparing  to  do.  You  had  no  true  sense  of 
your  own  capacities.  You  knew  nothing  of  the  sat- 
isfaction which  comes  from  the  full  exercise  of  your 
powers,  and  from  the  accomplishment  of  real  results. 
You  were  restless,  even — just  in  proportion  to  the 
nobleness  of  your  nature — to  reach  the  hour  when 
you  might  begin  your  portion  of  the  world's  work. 
If  you  are  not  in  a  morbid  and  diseased  state  of 
feeling  for  the  time,  you  would  not  give  up  your 
present  sense  of  manly  force  in  action,  and  go  back 
to  the  old  condition,  if  you  had  the  possibility,  to-day, 
of  choosing  to  do  so  once  for  all ;  —  and  you  would 

292 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

not,  because  you  are  assured  in  your  deepest  soul 
that  it  is  not  only  better,  but  happier,  to  be  what 
you  now  are,  than  what  you  then  were.  There  is 
no  truth  more  certainly  learned  in  a  man's  own 
experience,  than  that,  to  the  highest  happiness  of 
our  life  in  this  world  some  element  of  conflict  and^ 
victory  is  essential.  We  must  meet  something  of 
opposition  to  try  our  powers,  and  must  feel  that  we 
have  grown  strong  in  overcoming  it,  or  we  do  not 
know  one  half  of  the  glory  of  our  manhood.  And 
this  is  the  Divine  appointment  for  mature  and  later 
years.  The  child  is  a  lovely  object  in  his  own  place  ; 
but  he  is  only  the  beginning,  the  imperfect  develop- 
ment, of  that  which  is  to  grow  to  its  perfection 
afterwards.  If  the  beginning  were  never  to  pass 
into  something  higher,  life  would  be  a  most  unat- 
tractive, because  a  most  unfinished  thing.  The 
work  must  be  better  than  the  preparation. 

Look  at  your  home  life  —  where  the  happiness 
of  childhood  seems  to  us  often  the  only  unalloyed 
one,  —  and  you  will  find,  I  am  sure,  that  you  are 
mistaken  here  also.  Love  goes  downward,  rather 
than  upward.  Your  children  do  not,  and  cannot 
love  you  as  '.-.i^ivy  and  beautifully  as  you  love 
them.  The  law  of  nature  and  the  possibilities  of 
nature  are  only  in  the  other  way.  You  may  turn 
your  thoughts  backward  to  the  home  of  your  earliest 
life  and  recall  your  affection  for  your  father  and 
mother,  and  —  pure  as  it  may  have  been  —  it  is  not 
what  your  affection  now  is  for  your  own  children. 
You  have  entered  upon  a  new  stage  of  your  being, 
in  this  regard,  and  the  feeling  of  to-day  gives  you 

293 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

a  deeper  joy  than  the  old  one  ever  did,  or  ever 
could. 

The  delightful  peace,  that  fills  the  home  life  and 
makes  it  such  an  emblem  of  heaven  —  my  friend, 
V^  in  your  childhood  you  participated  in  it  only,  but 
now,  if  it  is  in  your  home,  you  make  it ;  you  are  the 
author  of  it,  and  give  it  its  being.  And  it  is  more 
blessed  to  give  than  only  to  receive.  I  can  think 
of  nothing  better,  as  related  to  this  world  alone, 
than  to  be  the  centre  of  happiness  and  affection  for 
the  inmost  circle  in  which  God  has  placed  our  lives 
and  given  us  our  sphere  of  highest  duty — always 
bestowing  upon  others  that  for  which  their  life  is  a 
continual,  though  it  may  be  a  silent,  thanksgiving. 
But  this  the  child  cannot  be,  because  of  his  position 
and  his  years.  It  is  a  blessing  reserved  for  after 
life,  and  it  makes  the  later  years  happier  even  than 
the  best  part  of  the  earlier  ones. 

You  were  receptive,  and  wholly  so  once,  in  that 
former  time,  and  therefore,  again,  you  were  free 
from  many  disturbing  and  harassing  thoughts. 
Others  cared  for  you,  and  you  rested  upon  them. 
But  now  you  are  a  giver  in  all  things,  and  others 
rest  upon  you.  You  were  made,  however,  to  be  a 
giver,  and  you  have  now  only  reached  the  fulness 
of  your  life.  The  labour,  or  fear  of  failure,  or  sense 
of  uncertainty,  which  attends  upon  you  as  a  condi- 
tion of  your  giving,  is  all  lost  sight  of  when  it  is 
over,  and  the  result  is  reached.  It  even  passes  into, 
and  forms  an  element  of  the  joy  of  the  result —  so 
that  we  enjoy  the  more  what  we  do  for  those  depend- 
ent on  our  care,  the  more  of  effort,  and  self-sacrifice 

294 


THE   INNER  LIFE 

even,  our  gift  to  them  has  made  necessary.  You 
did  not  leave  your  happiness  behind  you,  and  bid  it 
a  final  farewell,  when  you  first  ceased  to  feel  that 
your  wants  would  be  supplied  by  those  on  whom 
you  used  to  rest.  Far  from  it.  You  entered,  rather, 
upon  a  new  stage  and  measure  of  it  at  that  very 
hour;  and,  if  you  will  examine  your  own  experience 
carefully,  you  will  surely  find  that  the  new  condition 
has  been  better  than  the  old.  Each  of  the  two 
stages  has  been  good  in  its  own  appropriate  season ; 
but  the  former  one  was  only  a  mere  preparation  for 
the  latter  as  that  which  is  more  perfect  and  more 
desirable. 

But  is  not  the  hope  of  great  results,  which  belongs 
to  youth,  you  say,  a  more  joyful  thing  than  the 
remembrance  of  Jialf-resiilts  f  This  latter,  however, 
is  the  accompaniment  of  most  lives  in  their  middle 
and  later  portions.  Life  is  all  new  and  hopeful  at 
the  beginning;  while,  as  we  go  onward,  it  becomes 
an  old,  familiar  thing,  known  mainly  by  its  imper- 
fections. No  doubt,  I  answer,  we  all  lose  much  of 
the  confidence  of  hope,  after  we  begin  to  be  actors 
in  the  world.  We  learn  that  we  are  accomplishing 
less —  or  in  a  difterent  way,  at  least —  than  we  used 
to  think  we  should ;  and  the  work  of  reformation 
and  good  goes  forward  more  slowly  than  it  might. 
We  are  tempered,  thus,  and  moderated  in  our 
expectations. 

But  if  we  are  doing  less  than  we  anticipated  once, 
we  are  doing,  and  not  hoping  only ;  —  and,  in  so  far 
as  anything  is  daily  done  for  the  good  cause  in  the 
world,  the  manly  soul  has  a  satisfaction  in  it  which 

295 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

is  deeper  than  it  can  have  in  its  early  hopes.  It  must 
be  remembered,  also,  that,  along  with  the  moderat- 
ing of  our  expectations  as  life  advances,  and  keep- 
ing pace  with  it,  there  comes  in  the  soul  the  growth 
of  two  feelings,  which  are  all-important  to  its  happi- 
ness in  a  world  like  ours  :  —  the  one,  that  the  good 
cause,  the  cause  of  all  good  things,  may  go  forward 
most  successfully  in  a  way  other  than  that  which  we 
had  thought  of;  and  the  other,  the  feeling  of  con- 
fidence in  a  wiser  and  higher  power  that  is  ever- 
ruling  and  overruling  for  its  own  best  ends.  The 
youth  is  confident,  indeed,  in  his  anticipations,  and 
therefore  he  is  happy.  But  he  is  strong  in  his  own 
ideas  and  plans,  and  believes  that  all  things  must 
move  after  his  own  manner  and  through  his  own 
efforts.  He  opens  the  door,  therefore,  for  disap- 
pointment so  soon  as  he  begins  to  turn  his  hopes 
into  action.  But  the  man,  who  has  been  working 
for  a  score  or  two  of  years,  and  has  been  a  docile 
disciple  in  the  world's  school,  has  learned  other 
lessons,  which  rob  disappointment  and  even  failure 
of  much  of  their  disheartening  effect  upon  the  mind. 
If  life  has  wrought  for  him  its  legitimate  result;  if 
he  has  grown  older  in  the  way  in  which  God  would 
have  him  grow,  he  has  become  trustful  in  God's 
wisdom,  and  hopeful,  in  a  less  ardent  way  indeed, 
but  in  a  more  peaceful  one. 

And  so,  as  I  believe,  the  true  effect  of  the  pro- 
gressing years  is  to  bring  us  —  even  when  we  look 
at  that  which  is  brightest  in  the  early  part  of  life  — 
to  a  happier,  as  well  as  a  better  state.  But  as  we 
may  fitly  turn  our  thoughts,  in  our  Christian  medi- 

296 


THE   INNER    LIFE 

tation,  rather  towards  what  pertains  to  the  soul  and 
its  relations  to  the  future,  I  would  more  especially 
consider  some  other  points  in  which  life,  as  it  would 
seem,  must  bring  greater  happiness  to  right-minded 
persons  as  they  go  forward  in  it. 

Moving  in  this  sphere  of  thought,  I  would  say 
that  as  life,  in  any  true  view  of  it,  is  a  plan  of  God, 
it  must  of  necessity  grow  richer  as  it  draws  nearer 
to  the  end.  I  do  not  mean,  of  course,  that  it  must 
be  so  in  every  man's  actual  experience.  Some  men, 
by  their  own  choice  and  determination,  put  them- 
selves in  direct  opposition  to  the  Divine  plan  and 
working.  They  prevent  the  development  of  any 
good  design  in  their  existence,  and  we  can  expect 
nothing  but  perversion  in  their  case.  There  are 
others,  also,  who,  though  they  may  have  the  hopes 
of  the  Gospel  within  them,  become  querulous,  or 
dry,  or  hardened  in  their  feeling,  and  thus  lose  out 
of  their  souls  what  is  offered  them  so  freely  by  the 
Divine  favour.  We  can  only  speak  on  such  a  subject, 
however,  of  those  who  put  themselves  in  the  right 
line  of  living,  and  affirm  what  will  be  true  of  them, 
in  so  far  as  they  do  this. 

But  place  yourself  in  the  right  position,  and  open 
yourself  to  the  right  influences  —  and  you  will  not 
only  know  it  must  be  so,  but  will  realise  for  yourself 
that  your  life  is  a  plan  of  God,  and  that  He  is  carry- 
ing forward  a  work  in  you  from  its  beginning  to  its 
consummation.  How  strange  it  would  be,  if  there 
were  no  growth  as  the  years  advance,  or  if  the 
growth  were  downward  !  Is  it  possible  that,  in  His 
training  of  a  soul  for  its  immortal  existence,  what  is 

297 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

best  is  placed  at  the  very  commencement,  or  that 
the  progress  of  the  plan  towards  its  final  issue  can 
leave  the  soul  less  happy  in  the  later,  than  in  the 
earlier  years?  No —  even  those  things  of  which  we 
have  already  spoken  are  not,  in  this  view  of  the 
subject,  mere  outward  things  or  of  the  earthly  life. 
In  their  influence,  they  belong  to  the  character; 
and  these  things  and  all  others,  as  they  work  in 
upon  character,  strengthen  and  purify  and  elevate 
it.  They  are  designed  to  carry  the  soul  forward 
in  its  own  growth.  They  must  make  the  soul  hap- 
pier than  it  was  before  it  had  known  their  power, 
and  before  it  had  grown  wiser  and  stronger  and 
better. 

You  may  say  that  the  carelessness,  and  the  hope- 
fulness, and  the  joyous  outlook  upon  life  in  child- 
hood, in  themselves  alone,  are  happier  than  what 
follows  them  and  takes  their  place  in  maturer  life 
—  though,  as  I  have  already  tried  to  show,  I  believe 
you  are  mistaken  even  in  this  view  of  them.  But, 
when  you  look  at  your  character,  and  at  the  plan  of 
God  in  your  own  life,  you  cannot  feel  thus.  This 
change  indicates,  and  is,  the  progress  of  that  plan. 
It  was  then  near  its  beginning,  but  it  is  now,  it  may 
be,  near  its  ending.  What  if,  in  this  progress  in 
your  case,  or  in  some  cases,  the  outward  man  may, 
^  as  the  Apostle  says,  have  been  decaying  —  the  in- 
ward man  has  been  renewed  more  and  more.  Anx- 
ieties, cares,  struggles,  labours  —  the  assumption  of 
great  responsibilities  and  the  endurance  of  many 
hardships  —  have  brought  strength  to  you.  They 
have    awakened    new    earnestness,  new  confidence, 

298 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

new  devotion,  new  love  to  men  and  to  God  ;  —  and 
the  work  is  drawing  nearer  to  its  completion. 

The  Christian  man,  and  even,  in  his  measure,  the 
man  who  limits  his  view  to  this  world  and  yet  places 
himself  in  the  line  of  life's  best  influences,  cannot 
lose  happiness  as  he  goes  forward.  If  he  does,  he 
is  contradicting  the  Divine  order  and,  therefore,  is 
not  in  the  true  line  of  thought.  As  well  might  the 
victorious  general  rejoice  at  the  beginning  of  the 
conflict,  or  at  the  first  gathering  of  his  forces, 
and  lose  heart  and  happiness  in  the  moment  of 
his  approaching  triumph.  As  well  might  we  call 
the  dimmest  hopes  joyful,  and  the  full  fruition 
sorrowful. 

In  every  one  of  us  who  have  been  living  in  ac- 
cordance with  God's  plan  for  these  years  past,  and 
who  do  not  shut  our  eyes  to  the  consciousness  of  it, 
there  is,  and  must  be,  a  growing  happiness  as  the 
plan  works  onward  through  the  years  towards  its 
final  result  in  a  better  life.  If  we  do  not  daily  enter 
into  the  experience  of  it,  it  is  because  we  have 
become  distrustful,  or  have  clothed  the  past  with  an 
unreal  beauty,  or  have  allowed  the  fruits  of  evil 
habits  to  spread  over  our  lives  so  widely  that  we 
cannot  see  the  Divine  working  alone  and  in  its  own 
loveliness. 

But  there  are  some  things  wherein  we  grow 
naturally  as  the  years  advance,  which  tend  directly 
to  make  us  happier,  as  well  as  better  men ;  and  to 
two  or  three  of  these  I  would  call  your  attention. 

The  man  on  whom  the  progress  of  life  exerts  its  true 
299 


y^ 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

and  legitimate  influence  comes  into  a  kindlier  and 
more  truly  just  judgment  of  those  about  him.  The 
tendency  in  early  life  —  particularly,  as  we  first  begin 
to  associate  with  men  —  is  to  overestimate  ourselves, 
and  underestimate  them.  We  have  grown  up  thus 
far,  as  it  were,  within  ourselves  alone,  and  every- 
thing we  therefore  feel  must  be  measured  according 
to  our  standard.  The  good  that  is  in  others,  unless 
indeed  it  may  be  those  who  are  in  full  sympathy 
with  ourselves,  we  are  often  slow  to  appreciate,  and 
our  judgments  become  severe.  It  is  said  that  youth 
is  generous —  and  so  it  is,  in  some  respects,  far  more 
than  the  harder  side  of  later  life.  But  I  cannot 
doubt  that  the  man  who  has  gained  anything  of  the 
true  spirit  of  Christ  learns,  under  the  natural  in- 
fluence of  progressing  years,  to  believe  good  of 
others  —  that  the  familiar  association  with  men,  as 
time  passes  on,  brings  us  to  see,  in  spite  of  all  their 
weaknesses  or  sins,  the  elements  of  good  within  them 
and  the  possibilities  of  building  up  the  nobler  life. 
If  you,  my  friend,  are  becoming  constantly  more 
distrustful  of  those  around  you ;  if  your  associates 
and  neighbours  are  judged  more  harshly  than  they 
once  were ;  you  are,  I  am  sure,  not  learning  the  true 
lessons  of  the  years,  and  are,  so  far  at  least,  not 
under  the  Divine  guidance.  But,  on  the  other  hand, 
those  who  follow  this  guidance,  and  look  through 
their  own  weak  souls  upon  the  souls  of  those  around 
them,  must  continually  grow  more  appreciative  of 
their  better  nature  and  more  generously  hopeful  re- 
specting them.  And  the  kindlier  you  come  to  be  in 
your  judgment  of  other  men,  the  happier  you  will 

300 


THE  INNER   LIFE 

be  and  must  be ;  —  and  this  is  the    true    and    un- 
pei'verted  influence  of  advancing  Hfe. 

The  natural  effect  of  the  years  in  a  really  manly 
soul  is,  also,  to  make  it  softer  and  gentler  in  itself 
I  know  that  this  may  contradict  the  experience  or 
observation  of  many  persons.  Habits  strengthen,  it 
is  said,  as  life  goes  on,  and  we  become  harder  and 
less  open  to  impression.  Not  so,  I  believe,  with 
those  who  are  living  nearest  to  the  Divine  method 
and  are  taking  into  themselves  the  proper  influences 
of  life.  As  I  look  back  upon  those  of  the  genera- 
tion before  me  with  whom  I  used  to  be  most  familiar, 
and  who  have  finished  their  earthly  course  —  strong 
and  rigid  and  severe,  as  the  men  of  that  generation 
were,  —  I  remember  how  the  character  softened  into 
beauty,  more  and  more,  in  the  later  years.  If  you 
also,  on  your  part,  will  look  upon  those  around  you 
who  are  living  rightly,  you  will  see,  I  am  sure, 
the  gentler  influences  moving  in  upon  their  souls 
gradually  and  constantly  as  they  move  onward. 

Life  must  bring  us  nearer  to  the  Divine  tender-^ 
ness  and  gentleness  as  we  live  longer  under  their 
wonderful  power.  But  the  years  themselves  have 
the  same  effect,  in  that  they  naturally  wear  away 
the  rougher  and  harsher  parts  of  the  nature,  and 
show  how  much  mightier  a  power  in  the  world  gen- 
tleness is,  than  severity.  As  the  gentler  influences, 
however,  bear  sway  more  and  more  completely,  the 
happiness  of  the  soul  becomes,  of  necessity,  deeper 
and  deeper  —  even  as  the  beloved  Disciple,  passing 
out  of  that  vehemence  and  energy  which  gave   him, 

301 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

in  his  early  manhood,  the  name  of  the  Son  of  Thun- 
'^  der,  came  in  the  after  period  of  his  hfe  into  the 
quietness  of  the  loving  spirit  which,  as  the  old 
legends  pictured  it,  faded  away,  without  his  dying, 
into  the  happiness  of  heaven. 

My  friends,  I  hope  that  you  and  I  are  growing 
'*'  gentler  and  kindlier  as  the  years  bear  us  onward. 
If  we  are  not,  we  are  losing  one  of  the  best,  as  well 
as  one  of  the  most  natural  influences  of  life,  and 
are  certainly  not,  in  this  regard,  under  the  leading 
of  the  Divine  Master,  But,  if  we  are  thus  growing, 
>  we  know  for  ourselves,  and  in  ourselves,  that  life  is 
becoming  happier  as  we  are  becoming  older,  far 
better  than  any  one  can  tell  us. 

The  right-thinking  man,  also,  is  naturally  brought, 
as  the  years  pass,  to  estimate  more  truly  the  com- 
parative value  of  the  things  offered  to  him  in  this 
world.  You  know,  my  friend,  with  a  deeper  knowl- 
edge than  you  had  five  and  twenty  years  ago,  that 
/^  the  things  relating  to  the  inward  life  are  better  than 
those  belonging  to  the  outward;  and  if  you  are 
living  in  view  of  what  you  know,  you  are  happier 
for  knowing  it.  The  experience  of  life  has  taught 
you  that  your  success,  or  your  wealth,  or  your 
^  fame,  is  not  the  highest  of  earth's  gifts,  —  that  these 
things  are  nothing  in  comparison  with  those  which 
take  hold  upon  the  well-being  of  your  inmost  souls. 
In  early  years,  we  do  not  appreciate  this,  except  as 
it  is  taught  us  by  the  testimony  of  others.  Life  is 
new  to  us  in  those  years,  and  the  outward  things 
fill  our    field   of  vision.     But  the   progress  of  time 

302 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

opens  to  us  the  truth,  and  experience  impresses  it 
more  deeply  upon  the  soul.  Who  can  doubt  that, 
as  we  learn  this  truth,  we  become  happier?  I  do 
not  believe  that  any  man  knows  what  rich  and  deep 
happiness  is,  until  he  has  taken  into  the  depths  of  x 
his  mind  that  which  the  lesson  of  the  years  teaches, 
and  has  made  for  himself  the  one  great  discovery,  that 
it  is  what  is  internal,  and  not  what  is  external  to  the 
soul,  which  fills  the  wants  of  our  nature.  We  were 
created  for  the  internal  —  for  the  development  of 
ourselves  to  perfection ;  and  it  is  here  alone,  that 
the  highest  joy  can   come. 

We  are  thus  led  onward  to  our  final  thought: 
that,  as  the  years  advance,  we  are  brought  nearer  ^ 
to  the  heavenly  life.  There  is  a  certain  point  in 
the  history  of  all  men  who  think  at  all  —  some  time 
after  early  youth  has  passed  away  —  when  a  great 
change  comes  over  them.  Every  thoughtful  man 
who  is  in  middle  Hfe,  or  beyond  that  period,  will 
recall  it,  I  am  sure,  in  his  own  review  of  past  expe- 
rience. I  scarcely  know  how  to  describe  it  better 
than  by  saying,  that  we  then  began  to  feel,  as  we 
had  never  felt  before,  the  significance  of  the  fact  ^ 
that  we  are  immortal  beings.  We  had  known  this 
truth  ever  since  we  knew  anything,  perhaps,  but 
we  had  not  realised  it  in  any  impressive  way  for  our 
thought.  But  now  it  becomes  a  vital  thing  to  us, 
and  we  are  never  again  what  we  had  been.  The 
idea  of  the  eternal  future,  and  of  our  life  as  passing 
into  it  —  at  any  moment,  it  may  be —  cannot  after- 
ward be  shaken  off  altogether  from  our   minds.     It 

303 


THOUGHTS  OF  AND  FOR 

presents  itself,  whenever  it  will  in  our  every  under- 
taking, and  may  colour  by  its  presence  our  entire 
view  of  life. 

A  man  may,  indeed,  resist  the  influence  of  this 
thought  so  far  that  it  will  not  regulate  his  subse- 
quent course  of  action.  In  that  case,  it  will  only 
disturb  his  quietness,  from  time  to  time,  with  its 
suggestion  of  possibilities  or  dangers.  But  if  he 
gives  it  its  proper  force,  and  makes  life  to  be  what 
it  would  dictate,  it  opens  continually  before  him 
>c  the  prospect  of  heaven,  —  not  of  heaven  as  a  place 
merely,  or  an  outward  reward,  but  of  a  beautiful 
growth  of  the  soul  in  all  that  is  most  desired  and 
desirable.  The  most  elevating  thoughts ;  the  deep- 
'^  est  emotions  of  love  and  kindliness ;  the  nearest 
communion  with  God  which  we  ever  have :  —  these 
are  the  foretastes  of  the  heaven  which  it  opens  to 
us ;  a  future  life  and  time  in  which  these  shall  be- 
come the  permanent  experience  of  the  soul  in  a 
place  where  all  outward  surroundings  and  all 
friendly  associations  shall  be  adapted  to  the  pure 
inward  and  spiritual  condition. 

I  cannot  believe  that  life  was  intended  by  its 
Divine  author  to  grow  less  happy,  as  it  should  grow 
older,  with  such  a  prospect  before  it ;  or  that  it  ever 
does  become  so,  except  as  we  forget  what  we  are 
gaining  from  year  to  year  —  what  we  are  passing 
out  of,  and  what  we  are  passing  into,  as  we  draw 
steadily  nearer  to  the  end. 

It  was  not,  then,  without  reason,  that  the  Psalmist 
sang  of  long  life  as  a  blessing,  when  it  was  lived  in 

304 


THE  INNER  LIFE 

the  line  of  the  Divine  ordering.  We  may  not  for- 
get indeed  that,  as  the  years  go  on,  there  arc  many 
things  which  try  the  soul  to  the  very  foundations  of 
its  being  —  toils,  and  burdens,  and  separations,  and 
deaths  of  those  we  love.  But  in  the  wonderful 
working  of  all  influences  under  the  guidance  of  Him 
within  whose  plan  are  all  our  lives,  even  these 
things  are  made  mysteriously  to  purify  the  soul, 
and  thus,  as  it  grows  better,  to  make  it  grow  hap- 
pier also.  So  too,  when  the  life  reaches  its  end, 
and  the  deepening  and  increasing  happiness  of 
earth  is  exchanged  for  the  greater  blessedness  be- 
yond, the  salvation  which  comes  to  the  soul  in  its 
fulness  is  only  that  which  had  been  shown  or  un- 
folded to  it,  in  ever  enlarging  measures  and  clearer 
visions,  while  the  years  here  were  bearing  it  onward. 


305 


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